We aren't allowed to do the following: murder anyone except in self defense, screw your neighbor's wife/husband, steal anything or Lie. It's not complicated. I know the Ten Commandments. I don't want some sactimonious hypocritical politician to put them in my face. The last guy to push this idea was interviewed by Stephen Colbert and didn't know one single commandment! Not one! Now Please leave us alone. ANNA

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the first commandment "THOU SHALT NOT KILL"?

Fundamentalist bullshit. It's okay to kill as long as your enemies aren't of your own religion.

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...promoting and ensuring recognition of the Ten Commandments as the cornerstone of Western law

To anyone who would take that quote seriously, please provide a biblical basis for the following, you don't even have to be restricted to the 10 or 20 commandments:

1) Freedom of Religion
2) Separation of Church and State
3) Separation of powers (Legislative, Judicial, Executive)
4) Democracy - or a republic, for that matter.
5) "All men are created equal"
6) The rule of law
7) Freedom of the Press
8) The assumption of innocence until proven guilty
9) Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment

I could go on, but that's enough. The first tablet is most certainly not the cornerstone, it's in direct contradiction to the principal of freedom of religion. The second tablet is full of nice stuff: don't kill, steal, lie, etc, but that's generic to almost any society.

And in deference to my new friend, Pfeifer, - I got no problem if people want to follow all ten or twenty, or to teach their children to do the same. But I do have a problem if someone wants to rewrite history or force others to follow their beliefs.

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... made up of a host longtime conservative evangelical Christian leaders.

According to Kurt Vonnegut a real christian would be promoting the Beattitudes:

"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere." --Kurt Vonnegut

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"Blessed are the cheese makers."

Monty Python


Direct Democracy

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There is Biblical Law, set forth and taught amnongst those who follow that particular belief system. This is legislation set forth within a framework of a belief system.

There is Constitutional Law, legislated and passed or not by the designated branches of Govt -- federal, state, county, local.

In a country of 300 million people now, how does 'recognition' and designation of a date and time (which is Secular -- check a good dictionary!) for such recognition of ONE particular set of principles and not recognition of the sacred writings and principles of other Book centered religions? The word "Commandments" appears here; does this not ESTABLISH these, in their particular and specific formulations, by sanction or 'resolution' of Congress?

There are literally millions of sayings, quotations, proverbs, 'rules of thumb' etc which have had an impact on the formation and development of this country - is Congress now going to go gather all of these up and set aside a day to 'recognize' these?

This is a 'back-door' de-facto imposition of Bible-based rule, deviously kept a hair's breadth away from de-jure. Theocrats are moving forward -- within the System, a methodology not unfamiliar in the recent past. Process and phasing-in are what these Volks are all about.

"A Stitch in Time Saves Nine..."; well worth thinking about when the Surgery is being performed on Constitutional government.

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there is no such thing as the "Ten commandents. If you good Christians "oxymoron intented" took the time to read the bible you would know that.

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I am so sick of this shit. If this is what the members of Congress are being paid to do they not only deserve to have their benefits taken away, they also deserve a major pay cut.

This country, as an entity, is guilty of breaking all the major commandments. It's a lying, thieving, coveting, murderous monster that worships wealth over and above any imaginary being or power. If it were possible for a country to commit adultery I'm sure it would be out there fucking other countries but I guess the adultery part is left up to the individual members of Congress (unless fucking-over counts).

It's time to TAX THE CHURCHES. These delusional people want to be given everything without contributing anything. Time for them to either put up or shut the hell up. And it's time for Congress to quit fiddling around while Rome burns.

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Take your religionist members out of my soul, get your hand out of my pants,your fingers off my childrens sexual organs by way of your intolerant guiltridden clergy. Do not make claims against me or my wife or my neighbors wife sight unseen to not intimate conditions that may or may not exist. Do not make claims against my land, my beliefs, my fields, my animals or allow your friends to dictate how you think I should live, or face the consequences of your intrusive, invasive, actions with my methods of self protection!

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What are we to think of the Old Testament's Ten Best that doesn't include, "Thou shalt not abuse thy child?" Instead, kids are commanded to honor their parents. I can live with that. My parents were good people and I had a happy childhood. But, what about all those kids that have suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their "bronze age" patriarchs? Honor those buggers? Something's wrong here.

One might expect that God would have used his best Charlton Heston voice to call a halt to an evil that is handed down from generation to generation. It couldn't have escaped God's notice that child abuse is the progenitor of other, even worse evils (a social reality that was as observable in Biblical times as it is now).

Q: What does the missing commandment suggest?

A: That the Ten Commandments are not intended to improve society. They are, rather, a self-serving insurance policy written to protect the life and property of paranoid patriarchs. As our fearful and socially lazy patriarchs do today, humans in Moses' time thought that simply passing a few laws would be sufficient to diminish the threat from other humans, including their children. The Golden Rule is a mystery to such minds.

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This is so typical: the world is going to hell (or becoming hell) everywhere you look, there is crucial humanitarian work to be done in every corner of the globe, as a nation,we are fiscally and morally bankrupt and our elected officials (We did THAT?Oh, crap!)have nothing better to do than to be confused, mis-guided, wasteful, ignorant and thoroughly mired in missing the point. Just another case for throwing the bums out. Just once, I'd like to start off the day without becoming ill.

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Normally, I would be upset at wasting time and resources to continue beating our heads against this particular brick wall, but thankfully this country's picked an excellent time, one without military preoccupations, economic woes, crippling food and water shortages, social inequities, or criminal shortcomings of the health or education sectors, to bring up the issue of greater religious recognition. And remember, religiosity isn't a mental illness. Not at all.

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and yet they have the gall to elect politicians in both parties who don't follow them either, then you know that they're not really Christians but radicals hijacking religion to the worst.

Besides, remember that Commandment "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL" ? I suppose they're happy to see a MISleader in the White House who violated that commandment at least TWICE in 2000 and 2004. And then what about that war-turned-occupation in Iraq to STEAL petroleum desperately when America could be growing its own energy from solar, wind, reasonable biofuels (such as hemp, algae, switchgrass, and those that don't require petroleum unlike corn), geothermal, etc ... ? And along with it, another 10 Commandments violation "THOU SHALT NOT KILL". Thanks to the war-turned-occupation in Iraq, loosening of worker rights and safety standards, making it easier for lawless citizens to brandish a firearm and LIE about "self defense", poisoning the atmosphere with burning even more fossil fuels to "satisfy" the lavish spendthrifts while calling us frugal folks "unpatriotic", forcing more women who aren't richie rich to go through coathanger "abortions", etc ..., it's pathetic that the thugs and gubbmint would go out of their ways to push total hypocrisy against us all and in the process further tarnish us good Christians who had nothing to do with this just like they sent forces to kill the innocent Iraqi civilians who had nothing to do with the terrorists.

P.S.: Don't forget about the way the US government "rewards" countries with the biggest records of human rights violations such as China, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, etc ... or even chooses to do business with countries where governments let their constituents financially rot in hell such as China and India (hint: rise in farmers committing suicide and religious discrimination against Muslims especially in India now that they've learned the western ways quicker than even the Chinese).

I could also name plenty of violations of each of the 10 Commandments but it would be too long to list.

Here's the link on what those 10 are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments#Controversies

You'll notice how some of the religious groups BLATANTLY defend bad government policies especially on WAR. Especially on Iraq, peaceful means were always discarded thanks to the "shoot first ask later" ideology in Washington.
Take each commandment and check out the chalkful of violations of each one and see how you "like" them now.

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See also H Res 847 & H Res 888. All of these clearly violate the First Amendment.

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The first commandment starts out by saying that jaweh, jehovah [sic] or otherwise known as "god"--is a jealous god and will have no other gods before him.

Whoa. I stopped reading at that point.

BTW--May is Asian-American appreciation month in libraryland. How about we celebrate the Heart Sutra, or the Tao te Ching. Both of which have better ideas for a moral, productive life. They are also much better reads...

Thanks for the head's up of yet another tyranny of the judeo/moslem/christian triad of desert, monotheistic religions. I'll write my congresspeople...

In the meantime, in between time--ain't we got fun?

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According to Isaac Kramnick, a professor of government at Cornell University, America was founded as a secular state--completely neutral towards all forms of religious expression.

"In 1787," Kramnick writes, "when the framers excluded all mention of God from the Constitution, they were widely denounced as immoral and the document was denounced as godless, which is precisely what it is."

Opponents of the Constitution challenged ratifying conventions in nearly every state, calling attention to Article VI, Section 3: "No religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

An anti-federalist in North Carolina wrote: "The exclusion of religious tests is by many thought dangerous and impolitic. Pagans, Deists and Mohammedans might obtain office among us." Amos Singletary of Massachusetts, one of the most outspoken critics of the Constitution, said that he "hoped to see Christians (in power), yet by the Constitution, a papist or an infidel was as eligible as they."

The United States Constitution is a completely secular political document. It begins "We the people," and contains no mention of "God," "Jesus," or "Christianity." Its only references to religion are exclusionary, such as, "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust." (Article VI), and "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" (First Amendment).

The presidential oath of office, the only oath detailed in the Constitution does not contain the phrase "so help me God" or any requirement to swear on a Bible (Article II, Section 1). In 1797, America made a treaty with Tripoli, declaring that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." This reassurance to Islam was written under Washington's presidency and approved by the Senate under John Adams.

The first colony of English-speaking Europeans was Jamestown, settled in 1609 for trade, not religious freedom. Fewer than half of the 102 Mayflower passengers in 1620 were "Pilgrims" seeking religious freedom. The secular United States of America was formed more than 150 years later.

The words "under God," did not appear in the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, when Congress, under McCarthyism, inserted them. Similarly, "In God we Trust" was absent from paper currency before 1956, though it did appear on some coins. The original U.S. motto, written by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, is E Pluribus Unum ("Of Many, One"), celebrating plurality and diversity.

American law is not based on the Bible or the Ten Commandments. The first four Commandments in the Old Testament are religious edicts having nothing to do with law or ethical behavior. Only three (homicide, theft, and perjury) are relevant to American law, and have existed in cultures long before Moses. If Americans honored the commandment against "coveting," free enterprise would collapse! The Supreme Court has ruled that posting the Ten Commandments in public schools is unconstitutional.

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the world will beat a path to you door. By the same token if your religious philosophy's had any merit, you would not have to pass laws forcing people to follow them they would be coming to you. To all of you good Christians out there, if your faith is as strong as you would have me believe why do you need to be constantly reminded of it? Can't you read the bible at home and remember what you read for the rest of your life? I can.

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The Ten Commandments given to Moses are these: (abbreviated form)

1. You shall not worship any other god but YHWH.
Republicans worship corporate welfare and cheating stealing and lying to fill the "old coffers" of corrupt corporate leaders at the detriment of humans.

2. You shall not make a graven image.
I would bet that every Republican carries his/her graven image of Reagan in his/her wallet.

3. You shall not take the name of YHWH in vain.
God WANTED GWB to be president and send forth many 10s of thousands of American Soldiers to pilfer the "old oil coffers" of many nations.

4. You shall not break the Sabbath.
Is that Saturday? Or is that Sunday? Maybe you better have both just to be on the safe side.

5. You shall not dishonor your parents.
So when John McCain's MOTHER says you have to "HOLD YOUR NOSE" WHILE YOU VOTE FOR HIM, he just better leave her alone. At least she's honest.

6. You shall not murder.
Unless GWB tells you to. Or unless you can call it collateral damage. Or if you are working for Dick Cheney.

7. You shall not commit adultery.
Unless you're a Republican. You have your OWN set of laws.

8. You shall not steal.
Unless you run a corporation and have the full force and honor of the United States of America backing you up.

9. You shall not commit perjury.
Unless you're a politician and especially a Republican politician who wants to keep your job.

10. You shall not covet.
Doesn't include other peoples MONEY, or another countries OIL.

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Just one weekend a year?

I like the Ten Commandments.

Be nice if our leaders tried exercising at least a few of them.

Maybe two weekends a year for starters.

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Perhaps they merely think of them as the "Ten Really Good Suggestions."

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Celebrating "Habeas Corpus Day?" Oh, wait... oh, yeah. Never mind.

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I don't believe in God or organized religion and I'm very insulted that my elected officials are trying to push their brand of religion on me. I'm also tired of hearing that instead of taking care of the people's business, this bunch of fanatics are worried about something as asinine as Ten Commandments weekends. How do those people get dressed in the morning? What's that song? Oh yeah, fools to the right jokers on the left. Stop this playing around and fix this country. You broke it now you need to fix it. Don't worry about what we believe out here about God. That's for church on Sunday. You just worry about doing right by the folks who gave you your jobs and who if you're not careful, can take them away.

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If we get a Ten Commandments weekend, then it's only fitting that we get an "8 I'd Rather You Didn'ts" weekend as well, especially since Fridays are holidays anyway. Never heard of the 8 I'd Rather You Didn'ts? Read on:
The Eight “I’d Really Rather You Didn’ts”

1. I’d really rather you didn’t act like a sanctimonious holier-than-thou ass when describing my noodly goodness. If some people don’t believe in me, that’s okay. Really, I'm not that vain. Besides, this isn’t about them so don’t change the subject.
2. I’d really rather you didn’t use my existence as a means to oppress, subjugate, punish, eviscerate, and/or, you know, be mean to others. I don’t require sacrifices, and purity is for drinking water, not people.
3. I’d really rather you didn’t judge people for the way they look, or how they dress, or the way they talk, or, well, just play nice, Okay? Oh, and get this into your thick heads: woman = person. man = person. Samey = Samey. One is not better than the other, unless we’re talking about fashion and I'm sorry, but I gave that to women and some guys who know the difference between teal and fuchsia.
4. I’d really rather you didn’t indulge in conduct that offends yourself, or your willing, consenting partner of legal age AND mental maturity. As for anyone who might object, I think the expression is go fuck yourself, unless they find that offensive in which case they can turn off the TV for once and go for a walk for a change.
5. I’d really rather you didn’t challenge the bigoted, misogynistic, hateful ideas of others on an empty stomach. Eat, then go after the bitches.
6. I’d really rather you didn’t build multi million-dollar synagogues/churches/temples/mosques/shrines to my noodly goodness when the money could be better spent (take your pick):
1. Ending poverty
2. Curing diseases
3. Living in peace, loving with passion, and lowering the cost of cable
I might be a complex-carbohydrate omniscient being, but I enjoy the simple things in life. I ought to know. I AM the creator.
7. I’d really rather you didn’t go around telling people I talk to you. You’re not that interesting. Get over yourself. And I told you to love your fellow man, can’t you take a hint?
8. I’d really rather you didn’t do unto others as you would have them do unto you if you are into, um, stuff that uses a lot of leather/lubricant/vaseline. If the other person is into it, however (pursuant to #4), then have at it, take pictures, and for the love of Mike, wear a CONDOM! Honestly, it’s a piece of rubber. If I didn’t want it to feel good when you did it I would have added spikes, or something.

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When we were children, we used to tell each other outrageous lies, just for the fun of it. Some of us were better than others at this. One day, almost certainly after overhearing us, our teacher announced that we were going to tell each other about "our narrow escapes". You could hear the mental wheels turinig as each of us related a harrowing escape from almost certain doom. The teacher couldn't keep a straight face. What a hoot. Great teacher. Too bad some people tell others whoppers in a serious vein and warn of some really scary results if you don't BELIEVE them. It's even worse that some of them can't tell the truth from the whoppers.. Worst of all is when these gullible twits pass their silliness on to their children.

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religious nutcase in the whole goddamn world and be done with this delusional horseshit!

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"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire

In a world that contains Laffer curve, an Axis of Evil, Iraqi Freedom, Mission Accomplished, Clear Skies, Clean Waters, Healthy Forests, Family Values, No Child Left Behind, and a Patriot Act it is a good reminder for our time.

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As so many others have pointed out the very people who promote an adherence to the Ten Cs are the ones that ignore them most.

What a disingenuous cover for the god-less (as distinguished by their actions) to pretend to some doctrinal piety and then proceed to break every rule in the book.

This has become a very effective technique for the hypocrites-in-power.

There is one golden rule that covers everything, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. All anyone has to do to live a supremely spiritual life with high morals and ethics is follow this very simple rule. And BTW, this isn't "God's Law" it's the law of survival and basic humanism.

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The fascist movement is inevitable in the United States. The religious fanatics who are playing the part of stooges are helping to lead the country toward this end, and toward the new world order.

Organized religion poisons everything and helps the rich.

Pointless

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I am sick unto death of thes Kreestyan Talibaptists.
I have had more than enough of this stuff pushed at me.
WTF don't they understand about Separation of Church and State. MY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM is as important to me as their mumbojumbo.
Has not even one of them read the New Testament. Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's, and worship in your heart not in public (summation).

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"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's..!"

That means for all of you in the vast wasteland of ignorance otherwise known as the red states..

Don't mix Church and State..!

Politics and government is are overly ripe cesspool and it only cheapens the solace and dignity and grace of God's house..

Just turn on MSNBC or CNN or Fox News and you can smell the stench..of it..!

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not that i am a fan of relegion because i am NOT, nor do i profess to know any thing of the specifics, but isn't a commandment an order to be carried out without question? If the ten commandents were suggestions, they might be phrased "Please dont kill anyone and try not to fuck your hot neighbor" I saw a car a few days ago with a "fish" bumper sticker and a semper fi decal on the window. To me that would imply , trained killer, sanctioned by jesus. lets grow up people the puritans are long dead! Or are they?

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....When they stopped feeding Christians to the lions!

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Religion is caused by any one or more of about half a dozen mental illnesses.
The truth about religion can be found in these books:

"The Neuropsychological bases of god beliefs" Dr. Michael A. Persinger MD,
psychiatrist 1987 "Religious people are just like my temporal lobe patients"

"The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-Cameral Mind" Julian
Jaynes Professor, Harvard University 1976 "Religious people are just like
schizophrenic patients"

"The Psychiatric Interview in Clinical Practice" Roger A. MacKinnon, M.D.,
Robert Michels, M.D. W. B. Saunders Co. 1971 "Religiosity is a common
symptom [of] schizophrenic patients"

"The God delusion" by Richard Dawkins. "Religion is caused by a kind of
computer virus that infects the living computer, the human brain."

"The Science of Good and Evil" by Michael Shermer, 2004 "Morality and Ethics
are now in the jurisdiction of Science and greatly improved thereby."

Many books in the new science called "Sociobiology": Morals and ethics are
instinctive and they evolved.

"God: The Failed Hypothesis" by Victor Stenger Scientific proof that god does
not exist.

"The God Part of the Brain" by Matthew Alper 1996. "The USA is anomolusly
religious because many early founder groups were religiously insane and fleeing
prosecution in Europe. Religion is a genetic disorder."

"The Accidental Mind" by David J. Linden, 2007 Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press. Religion is caused by the extreme klugeyness of the "designed"
by evolution brain. In particular, the narrative creation system cannot be turned
off. It generates false narratives that are believed by the generating person. This is
seen in experiments done in the laboratory. This book has the best explanation of
resistance to evolution: "There has also been an assumption that if one accepts the
idea that life developed without divine intervention, it necessarily follows that all
aspects of religious thought must be rejected. Those who take this line of
argument to extremes argue that when religious thought is rejected moral and
social codes will degenerate and "the law of the jungle" will be all that is left. It is
imagined by religious fundamentalists that those who do not share their particular
religious faith are incapable of leading moral lives." These suppositions are not
true many times over. Linden later mentions that the creationists [intelligent
design advocates] are exactly 180 degrees wrong rather than just a little wrong.
Being exactly wrong, they are unable to unlearn their error. See Sociobiology or
Sciobio.

"Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism" edited by Petto &
Godfrey, 2007. The ID and creationist crowd are trying to do away with science.
They see science as a "godless religion." Science is a process, not a religion.

"Manufacturing Belief" by Lewis Wolpert
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/05/15/lewis_wolpert/

"The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris

"Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon", by Daniel Dennett
Let's do scientific research on religion and find out what causes it.

"Origins of the Modern Mind" by Merlin Donald 1991 "So what did you expect
from a brain that is based on the Chimpanzee brain?

"Atheism, A Case Against God" by George Smith

"God is not Great; how religion poisons everything" by Christopher Hitchens, 2007

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As a sophomore undergraduate student in Physics, your homework in Probability
and Statistics class may include figuring out when the second coming would be
required, assuming that the bible was 100% true in the year zero. That is, when
would the bible be down to 50% true? The popular and professors' answer in
1965 was the year 500. The true answer: A friend of mine was born and raised in
Budapest, Hungary. As an adult, he came here and stayed. After 25 years, he
visited his home town of Budapest. He was unable to communicate with his high
school classmates because the Hungarian language had changed so much. The
correct answer is less than 25 years. The first gospel was not written down until
50 years after the alleged events and then in a different language. The people who
told the story were at about the same level of civilization as "wild Indians", I mean
Native Americans before Columbus got here. We have all played or seen played
the game called "Telephone" in which a story is passed down a line of re-tellers.
By the Sixth re-telling, the story has no resemblance to the original. The gospel
story had to have been re-told at least 6 times before it was mis-translated the first
time. [Note that whoever wrote it down the first time was free to write whatever
he wanted to. The storytellers were illiterate and unable to check his written text
by reading it. Besides that, he wrote in Greek rather than Aramaic.] Conclusion:
There is no truth anywhere in the bible, and there never was. There is no way to
know what "jesus" or "mohammed" or any other such character actually said or
did.

ALL of the jurisdictions that were formerly in the jurisdiction of religion have
been taken over by Science. There is no longer a need to debate the issue.
Religion is an unfortunate side effect of having evolved from a chimpanzee-like
animal in a very brief 6 or 7 million years. "God" will not save us from the
consequences of global warming or an asteroid impact or a tornado because there
is no such critter as "god.".] Ethics and morality are instinctive, not derived from
religion. Female instinct has greater force in morality than male instinct because
the female is in command of the sexual encounter. Look up "Sociobiology". The
origin of the Universe is the subject of Cosmology which is part of astronomy
which is part of the science of physics.
Religion is a SCAM. ANY religion, there are 10,000 to choose from at any one
time. People keep inventing new religions [for the benefit of the "prophet," of
course] and forgetting other religions. ALL preachers, priests, imams, rabbis,
iatolas, etc. belong in jail for "grand theft, bunko type".

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I believe in Science. Nature isn't just the final authority on truth, Nature is
the Only authority. There are zero human authorities. Scientists do not
vote on what is the truth. There is only one vote and Nature owns it.
We find out what Nature's vote is by doing Scientific [public and
replicable] experiments. Scientific [public and replicable] experiments
are the only source of truth. [To be public, it has to be visible to other
people in the room. What goes on inside one person's head isn't public
unless it can be seen on an X-ray or another instrument.]
Science is a simple faith in Scientific experiments and a simple absolute
lack of faith in everything else. Why? Science works. You are reading
this on a desktop computer, a product of engineering made possible by
Quantum Mechanics. Religion doesn't work.


BACKUP/BACKGROUND:
Science is the ultimate Protestant Reformation in which Religion is
reformed out of existence. As I remember the Protestant Reformation, it
happened because the invention of printing press enabled everybody to
own and read and interpret the bible. Priests were no longer necessary
when everybody could read the source of knowledge. Science takes the
next step: Ancient text is not the source of knowledge when every person
can find out the truth by carefully following a procedure called "Science"
for him/herself. There is another implicit step here. The implicit step is
realizing that ancient people did not have some source of knowledge that
we do not. In fact, we have enormous knowledge and "The Ancients" did
not. Even people in the middle ages had technology that the ancients did
not, such as crossbows or even longbows. Yet there are still people who
believe that "The Ancients" knew things that we don't. I find that
describing people as old stone age, new stone age, copper age, iron age,
mideval, etc does not work. What works is describing "The Ancients" as
"just a bunch of wild indians". The description that works is inaccurate in
the details, but it gets the correct message across. It is understood. This
is said with apologies to stone age native Americans who were no more
stone-age than stone age Europeans or stone age middle easterners or
stone age anybody else.

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Downloaded from:
http://www.wired.com/
news/wiredmag/0,71985-0
.html?tw=wn_index_1
By Gary Wolf 02:00 AM Oct, 23, 2006
My friends, I must ask you an important question today: Where
do you stand on God?
It's a question you may prefer not to be asked. But I'm afraid I
have no choice. We find ourselves, this very autumn, three and a
half centuries after the intellectual martyrdom of Galileo, caught up
in a struggle of ultimate importance, when each one of us must
make a commitment. It is time to declare our position.
This is the challenge posed by the New Atheists. We are called
upon, we lax agnostics, we noncommittal nonbelievers, we vague
deists who would be embarrassed to defend antique absurdities
like the Virgin Birth or the notion that Mary rose into heaven
without dying, or any other blatant myth; we are called out, we
fence-sitters, and told to help exorcise this debilitating curse: the
curse of faith.
The New Atheists will not let us off the hook simply because we
are not doctrinaire believers. They condemn not just belief in God
but respect for belief in God. Religion is not only wrong; it's evil.
Now that the battle has been joined, there's no excuse for
shirking.
Three writers have sounded this call to arms. They are Richard
Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. A few months ago, I set
out to talk with them. I wanted to find out what it would mean to
enlist in the war against faith.
..............The article continues..........

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10 Commandments Weekend and all of that other stuff is
propaganda and a push for power. The purpose is simple greed
and lust for power. Preachers are among the wealthiest of
Americans. If 10 people tithe, the preacher's income is the
average income of the tithers. If 100 people tithe, the preacher's
income is the 10 times the average income of the tithers. The
tithers may be poor, but the preacher certainly is not. In mega-
churches, the preacher's income is in the millions. Notice how
contrary this is to what they preach. By getting a government to
endorse religion, the preachers get enhanced status and more
tithers. The preachers won't stop short of setting up a theocracy
in which ALL wealth belongs to the preachers.

Preacher income should be limited to that which matches what
they preach. All "church" income in excess of the average
income of the parishioners should be taken away by taxation.

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Dont forget why we are all here in this great nation folks.

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Just watched the Reverend Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers Journal. Now, there's a thinking person's preacher. I'd go listen to him any time. Before forming opinions on this man from the sound bites echoing around the corporate media, try to catch this BMJ. He certainly pegs American militaristic Christians. Obama has nothing to apologize for. This guy's a Howard Zinn of the pulpit telling us what we should already know.

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What happens when a person gets distracted? What they were working on or thinking about doesn't get the attention it needs; and that is what finger-pointing is all about. If a problem isn't going away, let's just blame somebody, until THEY fix it, even if their part in it is small.

Where does it end? Find the source.

Bear with me as I attempt to provide focus on the issues. Some of the limited natural resources of this planet are being thrown into space; into a program 60 years in the making; and there above the clouds the results float, at a place not a miniscule of the distance needed to get anywhere; and to do what, exploit another planet? Based on technology, how large a space vehicle will it take and how long will it take to get the vehicle anywhere and back, to bring back only 20 tons of a material found on another planet? And how long will 20 tons last?

Considering the above, and the cost of a seat on the next space shuttle at $100,000,000 how much time do you suppose will pass before men inhabit another planet? Since this economy is all about the money, do the math. So now what is to be done about getting along with one another until man can go somewhere else? How smart is a species if they continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over until they become nothing more than a joke; but isn’t that what is happening now - material for the commedians?

Like any other area directly affecting your life, this article is not just about the misuse of power; the space program is just one area of misdirected priorities and principles of the multiple party democratic/republican capitalistic system people seem to support as the best system for society. It does not take into consideration, the natural resources of this planet belong to the entire species over the entire course of the planet’s existence; and not just to a few generations of self-serving opportunistic exploitive generations who by their possession of the materials or their positions give them entitlement to subject others to a lower or compromised standard of existence.

It has NOT been random or by accident. It is simply the choices everyone makes; and everyone's choice DOES make a difference. The end of this country is coming because of those choices; and still you will ignore what you will hear and read because you don’t think yourself accountable or the country vunerable.

Who has been profiting from what? Who foresaw yet withheld valuable information because of what could be gained from the events, the government think tanks, economic advisors, investment gurus? Some did and some didn't; even the Christian God warned Christians of their destruction knowing many of them were hypocritical practicing deception and compromise; but this is NOT just about their actions, is it? Don’t think you have to believe words of prophecy (another word for forecasting) before they will happen, even if you’re not a Believer.

A rich man passes by a poor man. The rich man has many things they could have given out of their power, authority, position to influence policy, and wealth, but they thought themselves too entitled to part with their possessions, so they made their financial and investment decisions based on what best served their interest, and the poor remained the same. Have the values of the wealthy, or the values of the poor, brought a nation to ruin and the globe to unrest? By the authority of words (decisions, truths, lies) everybody influences; you are always giving something to society, but what, hope, respect, kindness, solutions for a much dysfunctional elitist society?

We observe you do not.

Is there something else which hasn't been tried that could make a difference: http://the-next-election.blogspot.com

It is painfully obvious, it is the only option for the species.

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The bottomless chasm between the rhetoric and reality of those pushing this rehash of Hamarabi's Code is mindblowing. Is it coindedental that Eric Prince, the founder and head of Blackwater, is a recent convert to the Catholic Church? Those supporting torture and world-wide war are those sponsoring this drive.
"I AM THE LORD THY GOD...THOU SHALT NOT TAKE FALSE gods BEFORE ME." Don't piss HER off!!!

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should read the first few which dont appreciate putting other deities like Yeshua before Y who is a jealous deity. moreover there are over six hundred more which follow which is the basis of some of our law. the religious and secular left should just denounce Falwell and Hagee and religious right as neo Pharisees and hypocrites and watch them fume. Their public prayers reveal them for what they are- see Sermon on the Mount specifically Matt 6:6.

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In the second paragraph, Mr. Berkowitz refers to "a former veteran of the Israeli Armed Forces." There is no such thing as a "former veteran." Once a veteran, always a veteran

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the commandments
"No other gods", "No graven images", "Keep the Sabbath", "No taking the Name in vain" were all specifically for the Jews. So there are 4 that don't apply to the rest of us.

"Honor your parents" is generally a good idea as long as you have honorable parents, but it's not a crime to tell your parents to go fuck themselves.

"Don't steal", "Don't murder", "Don't perjure," "Don't commit adultery", and "Don't covet" could all be condensed into one - "If it ain't yours, don't fuck with it." That applies whether it's your neighbor's possessions, life, reputation, or spouse.

And of the 10, only three are enforcable under secular law - you can be arrested for theft, murder, or perjury. To claim the 10 Commandments as the basis of our secular law when actually only three of them apply to all people, is disingenuous at best.

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..........posted in every school, bus, and men's room stall couldn't recite even one. He should have at least tried to save face by offering, "I think one of them is, Thou shalt not wipe your ass with your right hand." Oops, that's a Muslim rule. But who cares?

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"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." John Adams

"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature." Thomas Jefferson

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." B. Franklin

It's because of this religious bigot bullshit plus intelligence that I renounced Christianity and am proudly an atheist.

Plus did any one else notice the convience that this is being used to strengthen our bond to Israel? When we are the only country that recognizes Jeruselem as it's capital.

Plus Islamo-facism. How do you compare a religion that is not organized. (as in no pope no clergy, no uber rabbi) And compare it to a form of government that not even political scholars can fully explain and hasn't existed since fascist Italy(Germany was National Socialist)And si essentially totalitarian.

Eat shit and die you religious bastards. And I do mean that literally. How can you people sleep at night believing this drivel?

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they actually aren't Christians. If they were they would be publisizing the beattitudes. They just don't believe in the New Testament or in Jesus Christ.

Lewis Black cleverly offered his services as a Jew to interpret "his book". These guys really need his services.

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