God

Good day, good people.

The United States of America was the first country in the world not to have a state religion, and it still does not have one — fortunately for the good of our democracy. What it does need is: more giving of respect to one another, getting respect in return which will produce dignity and tolerance — civility. This civility and tolerance includes the honoring of the religious beliefs or nonreligious beliefs of others.

During the 2012 election year, the Republican candidates, with the exception of Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, were and Willard Mitt Romney still is pandering to Christians by beating the God drum to try and convince the voters not obliquely who is and who is not seated at the right hand of God. No person or political party has ownership of faith. He changes his positions on the issues “As Time Goes By” — my favorite song. You could say he acts like a chameleon and takes on the color of the environment at the moment he begins to speak.

Is exploiting conscience and using God’s name for obvious-political purposes blasphemousness? God is the carrot that causes the people who Willard needs to pull his cart full of hope forward. Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Willard may be embarrassing himself on an ongoing basis, but I do not believe he is fooling anyone, do you?

If Willard and Paul had a plan for tax reform which was going to help the Middle Class, they would be telling the world about it. But to tell everyone they will work it out with Congress presupposes in their infinite arrogance they are going to be elected. Tell us your proposed tax plan now, Willard and Paul, so the good people of America can judge your integrity and sincerity.

I do believe him when he denigrated the 47%. Not just because of the words he spoke but his delivery was disdainful equating them to beggars and/or deadbeats.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious represents most nuns. They advocate for women’s rights and the caring for the poor and vulnerables. They have confronted members of Congress whom voted for Ryan’s budget provisions which cut substantially programs for low income women and infants. They support the Affordable Care Act.

Social inequality is unacceptable. It will create a crisis. We must have public high-quality education, the Affordable Health Care Act, affordable housing and reliable and safe-public transportation. We owe the most to the members of the military and particularly veterans. They need in return assistance to retain their dignity by having a job and a feeling of worth. There is no reason why the richest country in the world cannot help the habitually unemployed and families in need. The help for these people is not in Willard’s and Paul’s budget and will not be in a budget passed by a majority of Republicans in the House or the Senate. Wake up, Americans, you may need help one of these days, and it will not be there if Willard and Paul are elected.

The present Supreme Court is responsible for billionaires and ballot thieves trying to deprive the American people of a fair and honest presidential election in 2012. The decision in the Citizens United versus Federal Election Commission allows unlimited amounts of money to be spent during this election season. The money can also be donated to the SuperPacs anonymously through a 501(c)4 social welfare organization. Do you know who is trying to buy this election for Willard and what they want in return? Are you going to allow this to happen so Karl Rove and his minions can laugh at you? Do you believe Karl has the interest of America in first position? Not a possibility. He gave us George W. Bush. George and his cabal, a group of conspirators, gave us two wars, the 2008 recession, increased our debt to an unacceptable level and gave it all to another president to clean up. Reminds me of the fellow in the parade who is following the elephant with a shovel and rubbish can on wheels.

For devotees of the English language: Faith is a noun. It is the firm or unquestioning belief in something for which there is no proof.

Faith replaces curiosity, investigation and reason and stifles the quest for accurate information.

What we do know for sure is religion is man-made. Every culture and/or society has invented a god, goddess or God and produced a different story of creation. Why do some Christians believe they are the chosen people? And, that they are right in their belief they are the only ones going to enjoy an afterlife because they believe in Jesus. And those who worship Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Shintoism and all the lesser known religions are not going to enjoy an afterlife. But I have no need to rely upon any of them for any logical reason which comes to mind. The not chosen people are only the chosen people in their own minds.

Notwithstanding the above, people have the right not to have faith, or they have the right to believe in a god, goddess or God. They have the right if they wish to belong to the First Church of Evolution. People have the right to have faith in and worship whom or what, when, and where they want as long as they do not hurt or inconvenience others. And each has the right not to be oppressed, persecuted or repressed for their lack of or for their religious beliefs in whomever or whatever. We all must respect the freedom of analysis, thought and ideas of others for the sake of tolerance.

“There is no God.” “Theology is unnecessary.” Stephen Hawking is a physicist and cosmologist.

If there were no death, there would be no religion.

Ted Haggard, a televangelist, told an interviewer, “Jesus is building castles in the sky for us.” I wonder if Mr. Haggard has ever used a telescope so he could show us the location of his real estate development.

One of the people in the business of religion was Joseph Smith, Jr. In 1830 he published his Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Actually it appears, Smith set out to plagiarize twenty-seven thousand words from the King James Bible which he owned. Also, his research for the Book of Mormon allowed him to use without attribution from the same version “and it came to pass” about two thousand times. Bellwethers and charlatans have always been illusionists and good salesmen.

Karen Armstrong, a former nun, has written a nonfiction New York Times bestselling book, A History of God. It leaves no doubt that all pagan gods, goddesses and the God of Christians, Jews and Muslims and other religions are all invented and man-made. She states: “Science seemed to have disposed of the Creator God, and biblical scholars had proved that Jesus had never claimed to be divine.” Robert Wright the author of Evolution of God agrees with her.

Science has proved there is no God. Why do people continue to believe there is without any proof — it is called faith? Because, they have been and still are victims of the best marketing campaign in the history of the world. The faithful joined a religion because they erroneously believed what they were receiving was worth more than it cost. And no religion is going to stop proselyting, because there is too much power to be had and money to be made. Mistakes have been made, but it is never too late for accurate information — the truth.

Abraham, Jacob and Isaac initially worshipped El Shaddai, El of the Mountain. Later it was renamed and was known as Yahweh. He was a god of war and known as Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Armies. Armstrong said, “People would continue to adopt a particular conception of the divine because it worked for them, not because it was scientifically or philosophically sound.” Today, Christians, Jews and Muslims still worship Yahweh, but call him, as opposed to her, God. Regarding gender, I have always enjoyed the line from the fellow who said he saw and talked to God and told his friend, “Well, the first thing you need to know is: she’s black.” And by the way, who can prove he is wrong? After all, what can be claimed without proof can be dismissed without proof.

The Israelites transformed Yahweh from his “brutal, partial and murderous god” as the god of war into one of transcendence and compassion. Armstrong sets forth, “The myth of a Chosen People and a divine election has often inspired a narrow, tribal theology from the time of the Deuteronomist [author] in the seventh century BCE right up to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim fundamentalism that is unhappily rife in our own day.” Brackets are mine.

What is the historical truth?

If there was an historical or biblical Jesus, he never said he was divine. After all, religious scholars all agree they do not know who wrote the different parts of the Bible or when it was written. Maybe Anonymous should be given credit on the author’s page for it would be accurate and appropriate. Religious scholars do agree the Bible has been edited nine or ten times by the faithful. I am sure there were no embellishments or a changing of history for the benefit of their points of view. Also, they agree it was not dictated by the God of Abraham.

Emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity in 312 AD. Then he called a synod in modern day Turkey. Christians and others who met at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 made biblical Jesus divine so he would be on the same level as the pagan god Mithras which was worshiped by Emperor Constantine I and his people. They used the ancient Egyptian myth of Immaculate Conception of Isis, applied it to Mary and used Jesus’ birth from her to deify him. The emperor paid for and convened the conference for business reasons. And like most people who pay for something he wants, he got it. He wanted to stop the conflict between the Christians and the pagans in the empire.

What is your thought on the contribution you can make to tolerance of the religious or nonreligious beliefs of others?

I hope this article will give you something to consider and discuss. To be successful you must understand other people’s opinions and care about them.

I care about your opinion. Contacting me with comments and constructive criticisms at Daniel McNeet with honesty and pleasantness their constant companions will always be welcomed.

Google+