Spiritual Problems with USA

[Vmarco]

"about a week ago, the Texas State Board of Education approved textbooks extolling the alleged influence of Moses on the U.S. Constitution"

 

Fact Check: On February 10, 1814, Thomas Jefferson wrote that common law is that system of law, which was introduced by the Saxons on their settlement in England . . . about the middle of the fifth century. But Christianity was not introduced till the seventh century. . . We may safely affirm that Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.

 

Actually,...Christian values are not American values. Christian values are not natures values. Christian values can never lead the world towards an era of peace.

 

The United States is a secular nation, a nation whose founding principles arose from freethought and deism, not evangelism and theism. The U.S. was designed to be a guiding model for the world. Yet Christians (with their legally protected and privileged superstition) fail to realize that their First Commandment is in direct opposition to the United States Constitutions First Amendment. In fact, for the most part, their Ten Commandments are everything that the U.S. Constitution is not. Christian values are inherently un-American and unnatural values. Christianity needs immediate marginalization, such as its addition to the NC-17 laws, along with cigarettes, alcohol, and pornography. That is to say, no children under 17 should be allowed in or exposed to faith-based environments. There should not be a single religious school for children in the U.S., especially tax exempt ones, that indoctrinate our youth into the ignorant and superstitious beliefs of hollowness.

 

The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded upon the Christian religion. That declaration was drafted in 1796 under George Washington, unanimously ratified by the U.S. Senate, and signed into law by President John Adams on June 10, 1797.

 

 

http://www.nobeliefs.com/commandments.htm

[Vmarco]

The Judeao-Christian 10 Commandments are more the basis of Chinese Law than American Law. Actually, the US Constitution, which was predominately devised by Deists who despised Christians, designed the document to be significantly separated from, what Thomas Jefferson articulated, "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man.” Rogueries, absurdities, untruths, hate, intolerance, etc.

 

Although some Founding Fathers were Christocratic Federalists desirous for an evangelical Country, like Alexander Hamilton,…the Deists were victorious in defining the rule of law, which unfortunately, has been muddied and revised, especially since the 1950’s.

 

Some US Christian trivia:

 

Government statistics show that christians are vastly over represented in prisons for sexual, violent and fraudulent crime.

The Catholic church is paying millions in compensation for the sex/pedophile crimes of their priests alone.

Christians are vastly over represented in the divorce courts.

Christians invented the concept of sin and then the idea that you could sin, ask forgiveness, get pardoned and start with a clean sheet,….well,…the clean slate idea began dying in the 50’s and didn’t get beyond the Reagan era.

US Christians have a higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, abortion, and gonorrhea rates for adolescents in the US are 300 times than for non-Christians.

[Vmarco]

Is spirituality the underlying cause of the "gender gap in earnings" in the USA,… Why women get paid 70 cents on the dollar less than men?

 

What does Christianity say about women?

 

Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or have authority over men; she is to keep silent" Timothy 2:11

 

"For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does..." 1Corinthians 7:4

 

"For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman but woman for man." 1 Corinthians, 11:8

 

“For woman is not the image of God. Man alone is the image of God.” St Augustine

 

“Blessed be God, King of the Universe that Thou has not made me a woman.” an Orthodox Jewish Prayer for Jewish males

 

"every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman". Clement of Alexandria

 

"girls begin to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than good crops". Martin Luther

 

Can anyone explain why today’s roughly 500 million Christian women concede to the views given them by their Bible and Christian leadership. In the early twentieth century, they seemed to have displayed enough reason to effect an emancipation through women’s suffrage. They questioned political authority, but why not religious authority? Do women honestly feel that they can play “pick-and-chose” with these theo-beliefs by saying yes, I like that verse, it’s true, or no, that verse is no longer relevant? Do they really feel that they can change their god into a more loving god/goddess version, and somehow that will make the reality of their ridiculous and intolerant religion, and their submission to it, more palatable?

 

Why do womeny give patronage to a reality that demands its adherents to be unquestioningly attached to beliefs through faith, thus the nonacceptance of truth, honesty, or a life that pivots upon unconditional love?

 

 

The "love" of Christianity is conditional, and pathetic.

 

Christian love, what its followers say is the highest love, is merely a conditional love. To better understand this type of love, simply consider the Great Love Chapter of Christendom, Corinthians 13; for example, "love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things", 1 Cor 13:7.

 

The Christiam form of love, that is, bearing, believing, hoping and enduring is isn't Unconditional Love, but the submission, devotion, expectation and suffering to the conditions of their religions brewed beliefs.

[Marblehead]

One should be wary of believing anything originating in Texas. It is, afterall, the largest producing state in America of cattle and therefore the largest producing state in America of bull shit.

[Vmarco]

One should be wary of believing anything originating in Texas. It is, afterall, the largest producing state in America of cattle and therefore the largest producing state in America of bull shit.

One should be wary of the second most populated US State,...and at least 8 other States who follow their radical Christocratic Groupthink.

 

For example,...The Texas GOP Platform (the majority Party in Texas) says:

 

"We affirm that the practice of [LGBT's] tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. [LGBT] behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. [LGBT's] must not be presented as an acceptable "alternative" lifestyle, in public policy, nor should "family" be redefined to include [LGBT] "couples." We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose [LGBT's] out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values. "

 

That above Platform also states:

"We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority".

 

 

Like Texas, the South Carolina group Christian Exodus takes seriously the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which it sees as allowing the States, and not the Supreme Court, to decide whether abortion is legal, whether homosexuals can be executed, and whether public school students can be required to recite the Lord’s Prayer. It dismisses the Fourteenth Amendment as a fraud that was forced upon Southern states after the first Civil War. According to the organization’s position statement, South Carolina has a right “to nullify this Amendment and all laws and court rulings arising from it.” And if the federal government should interfere with that right, then the state will have no choice but to secede.

 

By the way,....Sec 3 of the 14th Amendment suggests that elected officials should not put their faith-based agendas before their Oath to the Constitution.

 

Regarding wariness,...also keep in mind that Social Conservatives now control both Houses of Congress,...whose "base" arises from Southern Social Conservatives.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Vmarco

[Marblehead]

No problem, and I am in basic agreement with your above.

 

But then, I have a problem with this last ...

Regarding wariness,...also keep in mind that Social Conservatives now control both Houses of Congress,...whose "base" arises from Southern Social Conservatives.

... because I consider myself a conservative but totally disassociate myself with the people being spoken of in the post.

 

I sure would like that to read Tea Party Oriented Republicans.

[Vmarco]

 

 

But then, I have a problem with this last ...

... because I consider myself a conservative but totally disassociate myself with the people being spoken of in the post.

 

I sure would like that to read Tea Party Oriented Republicans.

I have no problem with Conservatives,...but I agree fully with Barry Goldwater and Sam Harris:

 

"Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy." Barry Goldwater

 

“We will see that the greatest problem confronting civilization is not merely religious extremism: rather, it is the larger set of cultural and intellectual accommodations we have made to faith itself.” Sam Harris

 

 

I also agree with Thomas Jefferson when he said, "No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him" Thomas Jefferson

 

In US America, Social Conservatism is an idea that Government should also be responsible for policing morality, and should punish people for their "sins," according to the Christian meme.

 

EVERY Goldwater Conservative should be appalled by the Social Conservative, Christocratic influence in America.

 

"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin

[Vmarco]

" SOCIAL CONSERVATISM in the United States is a political ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional Judeo-Christian values. The accepted goals and ideologies related to preserving traditions and morality often vary from group to group within social conservatism. Thus, there are really no policies or positions that could be considered universal among social conservatives. There are, however, a number of general principles to which at least a majority of social conservatives adhere, such as support for traditional Christian family values."

 

 

Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, "the rule of law and the Christian religion," and a defense of "Western civilization from the challenges of modernist culture and totalitarian governments."^[

Edited December 3, 2014 by Vmarco

[Vmarco]

Conservatism deconstructed:

 

Fiscal conservatives and libertarians favor small government, low taxes, limited regulation, and free enterprise.

 

Social conservatives see Judeo-Christian traditional social values as threatened by secularism; they tend to support school prayer and oppose abortion and oppose same-sex marriage.

 

Neoconservatives want to expand American ideals throughout the world.

 

 

Paleoconservatives advocate restrictions on immigration, non-interventionist foreign policy, and stand in opposition to multiculturalism.

 

Again,...ALL Fiscal Conservatives and Libertarians should be appalled by Christian Social Conservatism, and immediately cease enabling them.

[Marblehead]

In US America, Social Conservatism is an idea that Government should also be responsible for policing morality, and should punish people for their "sins," according to the Christian meme.

 

And as an Anarchist I am totally against this. We have the right to be who we are. I do not have to be like you or like anyone else.

[Marblehead]

 

Again,...ALL Fiscal Conservatives and Libertarians should be appalled by Christian Social Conservatism, and immediately cease enabling them.

Well, I am appalled. And I do whatever I can whenever I can to express that.

[Vmarco]

NOAA ( National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) says the first ten months of 2014 have been the hottest since record keeping began.

 

On December 3, the World Meteorological Organization reported that if the month finishes as expected, "14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century."

 

If you have property near today's sea level,...this might be a good time to sell. If you want beach property, wait till 2020, and prices will be quite cheap.

 

"the more deeply I search for the roots of our global environmental crisis, the more I am convinced that it is an outer manifestation of an inner crisis that is, for the lack of a better word, spiritual". Al Gore

[dawei]

NOAA ( National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) says the first ten months of 2014 have been the hottest since record keeping began.

 

Interesting... a different statistic (or related data) I see in my work has to do with traffic accidents... But the hotness mentioned had to deal with a very blustery first two months.

 

This past Dec. 2013-Feb. 2014 was vicious weather for accidents. About 16% increase compared to last year, same months, but the majority all came from northern states. Several I talked to said it was one of harshest they could remember...

 

This link allows one to change Year and Month:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2014/2

[Marblehead]

If you have property near today's sea level,...this might be a good time to sell. If you want beach property, wait till 2020, and prices will be quite cheap.

 

 

I live 45 miles from the beach. If I live into the 2050s I will have beach front property.

[Vmarco]

I live 45 miles from the beach. If I live into the 2050s I will have beach front property.

Depends on your sea level. Of course, for years, geologists been suggesting that a massive tsunami would level South Florida if the volcano in the Canary Islands collapsed,...but that is getting too far Off Topic from Spiritual Problems in America.

[Vmarco]

 

Interesting... a different statistic (or related data) I see in my work has to do with traffic accidents... But the hotness mentioned had to deal with a very blustery first two months.

 

This past Dec. 2013-Feb. 2014 was vicious weather for accidents. About 16% increase compared to last year, same months, but the majority all came from northern states. Several I talked to said it was one of harshest they could remember...

 

Yes,...I remember. Visited my mother in the Northeast this past February,...it was so cold,...I left the next day, and flew to Pompano Beach until it warmed up. Heard that thus year would be more of the same.

[Marblehead]

Depends on your sea level. Of course, for years, geologists been suggesting that a massive tsunami would level South Florida if the volcano in the Canary Islands collapsed,...but that is getting too far Off Topic from Spiritual Problems in America.

Hehehe. True, canaries and spirits have little in common.

[Vmarco]

　

　

　

To the chagrin of American's in denial about their Country,...the USA is a very divided Country,...there is no Liberty and Justice for All. There is just enough perceived liberty and justice to keep the groupthink of the majority Sheeple in lock-step.

 

The current focus on police brutality is good,...but will it bring liberty and justice for All?

 

In the 1950's, Christians with a theocratic agenda took over America. They changed the US Nationalal Motto to the constitutionally illegal Christianized national motto, "In God We Trust," thus replacing "E Pluribus Unum."

 

E Pluribus Unum is abhorant to Christians. "I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good . . . our goal is a Christian nation. We have the biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism..." Randall Terry, Director of Operation Rescue

 

Studies have shown direct links between the insane numbers of incarcerated Americans and Christianity. If America released half of it's prisoners, it would still be the number 1 prison Country. Someone had said,...if America freed 99% of its incarerated population, that they would only fall to number 7 in numbers of prisoners.

 

An American Humantarian once said, "As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free." Eugene V. Debs

 

　

Debs also said, "I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people are awakening. In due course of time they will come into their own."

 

Such a day has yet to shone a sliver of light.

 

Thomas Jefferson said, "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

 

Such a day has yet to shone a sliver of light.

 

What continues to prevail is this,.... "My government is the world's leading purveyor of violence." Martin Luther King

[Vmarco]

Even though the State of Maryland and six other states still have articles in their constitutions saying people who do not believe in God are not eligible to hold public office. Even though Maryland’s Constitution still says belief in God is a requirement even for jurors and witnesses. Even though....43 other States do not stress this Unconstitutional requirement,....it is generally assumed by the Sheeple majority of all 50 States that belief in a god is not only necessary to be elected,...but that their elected officials, put their faith-based agendas before their Oath to the Constitution.

[dawei]

To the chagrin of American's in denial about their Country,...the USA is a very divided Country,...there is no Liberty and Justice for All. There is just enough perceived liberty and justice to keep the groupthink of the majority Sheeple in lock-step.

 

As opposed to some united countries like?

 

I would be interested to see the examples you think are 'working'... at least better... and why that might be the case.

[Vmarco]

 

As opposed to some united countries like?

 

I would be interested to see the examples you think are 'working'... at least better... and why that might be the case.

No, no, no....it's not about if other Countries are better.

 

What good is the perceived good in US America, if the false is denied.

 

Are the American Countries of Mexico, Costa Rica, or Uraguay better than US America? What does better mean? Is it even important?

 

Seriously,...consider this quote:

 

"we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself"

 

First of all,...is it a reasonable statement? Or are we afraid to admit to the false?

 

Many Americans are like George W Bush. He once tried to say (while President),..."Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." But the words that came out of his mouth were, ""Fool me once, shame . . . shame on . . . you," followed by a long pause, then, "Fool me—can't get fooled again!"

 

"What's revealing about this is that Bush could not say, 'Shame on me' to save his life. That's a completely alien idea to him. This is a guy who is absolutely proud of his own inflexibility and rectitude."

 

Let's go back a little further,...9-11.

 

 

Even today, US America will not admit that the tragedy of 9-11 was not an unsolicited attack, nor a "sucker-punch",...it was a "faith based initiative" by those who agreed with Martin Luther King, that America is the world's leading purveyor of violence.

 

Once Americans begin to realize this, then the healing can begin,...the healing of this Planet can begin, but not before.

[dawei]

No, no, no....it's not about if other Countries are better.

 

I wasn't really trying to do a comparison but rather see if some sort of baseline was out there.

 

What good is the perceived good in US America, if the false is denied.

 

I agree with the general point.

 

"we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself"

 

First of all,...is it a reasonable statement? Or are we afraid to admit to the false?

 

Many Americans are like George W Bush. He once tried to say (while President),..."Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." But the words that came out of his mouth were, ""Fool me once, shame . . . shame on . . . you," followed by a long pause, then, "Fool me—can't get fooled again!"

 

"What's revealing about this is that Bush could not say, 'Shame on me' to save his life. That's a completely alien idea to him. This is a guy who is absolutely proud of his own inflexibility and rectitude."

 

Maybe presidential posturing but I would agree that it is not completely honest.. but it was american on some level. I don't like to call out specific people too much as it is much more widespread than a few.

 

Let's go back a little further,...9-11.

 

Even today, US America will not admit that the tragedy of 9-11 was not an unsolicited attack, nor a "sucker-punch",...it was a "faith based initiative" by those who agreed with Martin Luther King, that America is the world's leading purveyor of violence.

 

Once Americans begin to realize this, then the healing can begin,...the healing of this Planet can begin, but not before.

 

I think there is an ideological fault at work; that deterrence is best shown through might and force.

[Vmarco]

 

I wasn't really trying to do a comparison but rather see if some sort of baseline was out there.

 

 

Nor was I attempting to paint an intricate comparison,...but just a broad brush stroke to bring attention to the broader condition.

 

I recently shared:

 

The (very hard) rub, IMO is,...that one key is to reduce one problem to its core.

 

One thing is to try to resonate with these quotes:

 

"Contradictions in perspective among those Seeing the profound do not occur" Taranatha

 

Two truths cannot contradict one another. Galileo Galilei

 

The (very hard) rub,...to recognize that those who Know, do not Gnow. Those who Gnow do not contradict the truth. In other words,...all individual truth is false.

 

Who can admit that everything they thought was meaningful, may be meaningless?

 

Or, as PJ Merola argued, "The biggest crux to the evolution of humanity is breaking through your own indoctrination. It is very, very difficult to overcome emotional elements that have become so engrained in you, that you have an immediate reaction, an immediate suffering and pain, if something interfers with [your idea of the status quo]. It's a very, very complex problem. We have to learn how to identify and break our own indoctrination if we expect to move forward at all as a civilization"

[joeblast]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-07/pope-finds-100s-millions-euros-tucked-away-freezes-ex-vatican-bank-heads-assets

 

say what you want about the church, but at least it looks like the current leader is honestly making efforts

 

unlike every single western central bank...

 

I know its ironic that some goldman exec said something once about doing god's work, double the irony that the pope is doing the job that goldman should be doing right now, internally

 

 

 

 

that said I'd still rather see the gold and marble where it originally was, before it....uh....migrated to the vatican..

Edited December 8, 2014 by joeblast

[Vmarco]

that said I'd still rather see the gold and marble where it originally was, before it....uh....migrated to the vatican..

 

 

 

Yes,...it would be interesting if the Vatican acknowledged how they attained mons vaticanus, the most sacred place of the Phrygian religion, where the cult of Attis, whose priests were called Gallaens, strongly influenced the invention of modern Christianity.

 

 

Such an admission could lead to why people engage in such an absurdity as present-day Christianity? It does not take a degree in religious studies to see how this new Christianity got its deep grip on society. History is quite clear regarding the roots of this deception, which was firmly grounded by the end of the sixth century. Theodosian laws, for example, condemned all non-Christians, thus promoting ardent persecutions of freethinkers, deists, pantheists, polytheists, pagans, and others whose confiscated property enriched the new church. Then came the barbaric reign of Justinian, which barred anyone outside specific neo-Christian beliefs from civil service, and whose forced baptisms upon Arabs encouraged the way for the establishment of the misogyous, pediphile religion of Islam. Christianity was spread through violence and now propagates its faith through the fortune raised from that violence. In the United States that is a serious felony, and their propagators are nothing less than accessory felons.

 

About the pediphile comment: Muhammad (570–632 CE), the Abrahamic teacher who, prompted by persecutions upon Arabs, such as those continued by Pope Gregory (540–604 CE), the Father of the Dark Ages, invented the Arab version of monotheism. Interestingly, this new religion supplied the pedophile prophet with many attractive wives, the youngest of whom is said to be nine-year-old.

 

I live near Myanmar,...where Buddhists have finally been standing up to the Muslim minority who have been enjoying taking up to 4 Buddhist women for wives, assisted by millions of dollars from the Saudi's,...while the Western Inter-faith Community, led by US America, condemns the Myanmar Buddhists.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy