Religious News/Quotes of the Day

[Dardedar]

Episcopal bishop John Spong answers a question:

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Williamfrom Newmarket, Ontario, writes:

If the roots of the Christ story are indeed in Egyptian mythology (according to Tom Harpur's book The Pagan Christ) or the continuation of Jewish Epic History (according to your Jesus for the Non-Religious) then who were the writers of the gospels? How did they acquire the expertise to make such a complex adaptation and what drove them, in spite of the risk of persecution, to adapt these myths to the person of Jesus of Nazareth, either as if this person was an historical figure, or if he never existed?

SPONG responds
Dear William,

The writers of the gospels were Jewish people who represented the second or third Christian generation. They wrote in Greek, not Aramaic, which was the language Jesus and his disciples spoke. The gospels — at least the first three: Mark, Matthew and Luke — are the products of the Synagogue, which had shaped the Jesus story dramatically over the 40-70 year period that transpired between the crucifixion and the gospel writing tradition.

I disagree with Tom Harpur's thesis, for I do not think Egyptian mythology can shape the Jesus story in as short a period of time as existed. I note that Paul writes in Galatians, a book that is usually dated in the early 50's, that he had conversed with Peter and other "pillars" of the Christian movement within four to nine years of his conversion, which scholars date one to six years after the crucifixion. Mythology needs more time than that to develop.

People need to embrace the fact that the Jesus story was kept alive, recalled and celebrated in the Synagogue, for that is where the followers of Jesus worshiped every Sabbath. The Synagogue and the Christian Church did not separate until 88 C.E.

I am quite sure Jesus of Nazareth was a person of history in whom and through whom Jewish people believed that they had experienced the presence of the holy God. It was in that experience that Christianity was born. The earliest articulation of that faith came from Paul who wrote, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to God."

How we tell the world of the meaning of that experience is still what Christianity is all about.
– John Shelby Spong

[Doug]

Chuck Norris goes on a rant against atheists:

What profit would there be if I posted the fact that atheists denigrate every religion and prayer that ever has been offered? To say God doesn't exist is to say every religious leader in every age was delusional at best. And it also is to say that not one prayer on any continent in any era of human history has been answered. That premise alone rules atheism preposterous and foolish.

Finally, what profit would there be if I posted that I agree with my friend Mike Huckabee, who said on his book tour via Fox News that atheists shouldn't be fighting for a holiday in December when they already have a holiday: April Fools' Day (a holiday also grounded in sacred Scripture, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no god'")?

We all know I would be labeled as an extremist, irrational and a bigot if I posted any of the preceding ideas. Yet atheists do and get away with First Amendment murder.

See here.

[Dardedar]

Chuck Norris goes on a rant against atheists:

DAR
Amidst the idiocy and ignorance of the article I enjoyed conflict between these two comments:

"I am a patriot, and I believe that atheists are free to believe, speak and post whatever they want. This is America, and that's their First Amendment right."

vs.

"We all know I would be labeled as an extremist, irrational and a bigot if I posted any of the preceding ideas. Yet atheists do and get away with First Amendment murder."

The "extreme" comment he is talking about is a favorite of the FFRF:

"At this season of THE WINTER SOLSTICE may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Chuck needs to stick to doing fake karate chops on the tee vee and stay away from anything intellectual.

D.

[The Physicist]

Chuck Norris goes on a rant against atheists:

Sorry guys...I am out. I can't take on Chuck Norris...he scares the crap out of me. He's like a uber powerful, walking, talking, ass kicking contradiction with his christian morality mixed with pagan magic hobojubo who can stop him? If he asks, I believe in native American Jesus. Please tell him not to use his hubojubo on me.

[ChristianLoeschel]

To say God doesn't exist is to say every religious leader in every age was delusional at best. And it also is to say that not one prayer on any continent in any era of human history has been answered. That premise alone rules atheism preposterous and foolish.

Love it.

[RobertMadewell]

I didn't take this one.

Original article
My response

I know what this guy reads when he's not reading the bible.

[tmiller51]

James Randi Tirade

"On Xmas Day, "pastor" Rick Warren, the currently-celebrated evangelist who is on every TV screen and front page as the hand-picked preacher to deliver the invocation of divine magic at the Obama inauguration ceremony, gave an effusive, rambling account on the NBC Today Show that demonstrated his incredible naivety about rational thinking and how disconnected his brand of religion - at least - is from reality. He was gushing over a miracle that he said had "blessed" his family.

The facts: Warren said that his daughter-in-law Jaime gave birth to her first child six weeks prematurely, though he can't seem to remember whether it was five, six, or seven weeks, since he gave all three figures... The hospital, he said, performed a C-section to save the baby's life - and the mother's. In that procedure, Warren said, they discovered that it was a "breech baby," that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and it was not receiving oxygen.

...But consider: the baby was in a breech situation, a critical position arranged by God; this was remedied by medical science during the Caesarian procedure, an invention by Man to thwart natural disasters brought about by a not-uncommon imperfection of the human body - which is also God's design. And the baby's umbilical cord had shut off oxygen-rich blood, another design error, or maybe a purposeful Act of God. The mother had a sizeable brain tumor, placed there by God, who we're told creates all these things.

And the Divine solution to this problem, according to Rick Warren? God - who, remember, is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Omnipotent and Omniscient, knows all, the One who can do anything He wishes - arranged the oxygen-deprived baby in a breech position, bringing about a crisis that medical science had to avert by performing an operation. And He thereafter allowed medical science to detect the tumor, which is still in place, being poorly placed for access by surgery. Who designed this scenario - Rube Goldberg...?"

Full Post

Tim

[Dardedar]

DAR
And after science fixes all of those things that god botched Warren will attribute the positive out come to the power of "prayer."

[Dardedar]

[Dardedar]

DAR
Just sickening:

***
Taliban Bans Female Education in NW Pakistan

By Susie Madrak Monday Jan 19, 2009

Taliban militants have banned female education in the northwest Pakistan valley of Swat, depriving more than 40,000 girls of schooling, officials said on Saturday.

"My daughters are sitting at home," said Mohammad Ayub, father of two girls whose school was blown up by militants in October. "Their future looks bleak because they will stay uneducated."

There has been fighting in the valley for more than a year, but residents say the military is losing control to militants who aim to impose a severe form of Islamic law.

Swat is just one front the militants have opened up as violence has spread across Northwest Frontier province from adjoining semi-autonomous tribal areas that border Afghanistan.

Link

[Dardedar]

Praying Their Children to Death

In America, hundreds of children have died because their parents refused to seek out medical attention, preferring to let God determine the fate of their ailing youngsters.

Examples...

[Betsy]

I think that is at least part of the reason why Jett Travolta died - his parents are devout scientologists and believe their magic treatments take care of everything. Perhaps if he'd had real scientific medical treatment, his condition would not have led to his death...

[Dardedar]

Teacher fired in Texas for perhaps being an atheist:

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It must be tough to be an atheist in Texas

Category: Godlessness
Posted on: February 5, 2009 5:40 PM, by PZ Myers

Just ask Richard Mullens, who has not said he is an atheist, but was suspected of being one…and lost his job as a teacher for that reason.

Link

[Dardedar]

Attempt to introduce prayers to public schools in Florida- AGAIN.

[Dardedar]

[Betsy]

a blogger named "johnfromcensornati" wrote this elsewhere and I thought it was amusing:

The Lord is my Imaginary Friend; I shall not gay-marry.
He maketh me to lie in the street in front of @bortion clinics.
He leadeth me by the nose.
He demandeth my money.
He talketh in the circles of gibberish - His lame joke.
Yay! While I wade through the comments of liberals and feminists, I will shower them with "love".
For Thou art with me;
Thy Rod and thy Staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a life for me in the closet.
Thou annointest my head with oil;
My cup runneth over!
Surely, self-righteousness and hypocrisy shall define me all the days of my life and I will wallow in the Ignorance of the Hocus Pocus forever.
Amen.

[Dardedar]

Bill Maher takes on two catholics. Five minute clip from Real Time.

[Dardedar]

"Finally, one of my professors once said, "Any God who can be killed ought to be killed." To which I would add, any faith that can be undermined should be undermined. A God or a faith that needs you or me to prop it up has already died long ago. You do not need to defend a living God. Only dead gods seem to require that." –-John Shelby Spong

[Doug]

THERE is growing apprehension within the Vatican over the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI after one insider labelled his gaffe-prone reign a disaster.

The Pope caused a furore this week with his remarks in Africa that AIDS could not be overcome with condoms, which he said aggravated the problem.

These comments follow a recent uproar over the lifting of an excommunication on a British bishop who denied the extent of the Holocaust.

Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Holy See insiders feel it is time for a shake-up in the way the Pope's messages are being spread, before his four-year papacy is undermined.

...The comments have provoked outrage; politicians in France and Germany have been vocal in condemning what they termed a distortion of the scientific evidence that risked putting many more lives at risk in sub-Saharan Africa, where millions of people are living with the disease.

Spain also weighed in yesterday, promising to send a million condoms to Africa to fight the spread of AIDS.

The Vatican has sought to play down the controversy. On its website the Holy See changed the text of the Pope's remarks to have him say that condoms only "risked" making the AIDS problem worse.

See here.

[Dardedar]

"...there are no references to Jesus of Nazareth anywhere in the Old Testament. All Christian claims to that effect are phony. They are just Old Testament verses ripped out of their proper context and misapplied to Christian claims in the New Testament. They are not prophecies of Jesus at all. If you read them in their original Old Testament context you will discover what they really mean.

Get The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press, 2004). The translation, notes, commentaries and essays in it are by eminent Jewish scholars who know the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) much better than some Christians do.

So anxious were the early Christian writers to connect the Hebrew Bible with Jesus that they not only lifted verses out of context but sometimes even referred to non-existent or imagined references in the Hebrew scriptures, like Matthew 27:9-10, a fake reference to Jeremiah, or to Paul’s frequent claim “according to the scriptures.”

The New Testament writers were sometimes so ignorant in their OT “research” that Matthew has Jesus riding on both a donkey and its colt at the same time (Matthew 21:407). And according to Jesus himself the colt had never been ridden before (Mark 11:2). Wouldn’t they be great in the Lewiston Roundup parade? Now read the parallelism in the Hebrew poetry in Zechariah 9:9, “…riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

--Ralph Nielsen