Chris Hedges, who previously railed against theocracy in American Fascists, now calls for a matching pox against those who don't have any religious houses:
There are two radical and dangerous sides to the debate on faith and religion in America: Christian fundamentalists, who see religious faith as their exclusive prerogative, and New Atheists, who brand all religious belief as irrational. Too often, the religious majority—those committed to tolerance and compassion as well as their faith—are caught in the middle.
He does have quite a point. How is believing in invisible, supernatural creatures — without a shred of evidence to support their existence — in any way irrational? And have you ever watched Richard Dawkins and company? In four words: danger, danger, warning, warning!
Besides, the World's Greatest Woman (or at least her magazine) knows precisely what religion is for:
"Chris Hedges reminds us that the point of religion is not to make us disdain those who think differently but rather to help us become decent, responsive, and moral human beings." - 0, The Oprah Magazine
In no way is religion a means of consolidating power in the hands of a paternalistic elite, via perpetuating blatant hokum.
Really, why else but to make us decent, responsive, moral human beings would L. Ron Hubbard have given us a new and better religion? No reason at all!
Anyway, this book must be pretty good if it got Oprah to return to her pew.
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Anger = Anger + 1
My biggest pet peeve in life is a certain way of thinking that looks at two sides of an issue and decides that the solution must lie exactly 50% of the way in between them. It's fucking lazy, and most of the time wrong.
On the political front, it's the cult of bipartisanship.
On the religious front, it always makes religion so abstract that you forget the ridiculous concepts that all of them involve (talking donkeys is my favorite example).
VC, you're playing my song (again!)
http://correntewire.com/equivalating
Can you post Youtube videos
Can you post Youtube videos on this site? Copying the embed code didn't seem to work.
Anyways, here's a great clip of Charles Barkley bashing conservative christians on Wolf Blitzer's show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCaAx9SRZRU
Per VC's request
VC, to post YouTubes...
Below the body of the post, click the triangular "twistie" and choose the option "Full HTML."
Note that, when you're in that mode, you need to use HTML to separate your paragraphs (such as by putting
between 'em). I usually avoid doing
tags, because they're more likely to pick up style sheet formatting....
Yes We Can!
...post Youtubes on Corrente. :)
Click on "Input format" found under the Comment or Post content box.
Then click "Full HTML".
Paste the embed code in the content box and click the Post button.
and remember to add a break code below the html link!!!! n/t
We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
The point of religion?
I thought the point of religion for believers was like the point of science for scientists -- to describe reality. The Oprah Magazine quotation recasts it as a self-improvement project. Just decide what you think is good, and religion comes trolling along behind. Revelatory description.