I just finished reading a post on a blog I hadn't seen before, and which I rather like. It's titled 'Cranmer' and tends to lean towards the 'conservative' side of things. Among other items, it has a scroll of British Conservative 'greatests', with a defining criterion of combining a 'disposition to preserve' with an 'ability to improve'.
Now, for myself, whether or not I, or anyone you'd care to name, has an ability to improve is always open to question and debate, even if the debate goes no further than between one's ears. And so it should be. Each of us needs to check ourselves to see if we are improving ourselves and/or the world around us. But the first one, the disposition to preserve, that I have in some abundance!
What do I wish to preserve? Let's start with some things we all require and for which there are no substitutes, shall we? Uncontaminated land to till, graze animals and to build on. Clean air to breathe. Clean water to drink and to wash with. Wild, untouched places to get away to at times and restore our flagging hearts, minds and spirits. Food fit for human & pet consumption. Energy that isn't overly costly in one way or another. A level playing-field for all of us, especially where elections are concerned. Transparent elections where as many people as possible have their say. Elected representatives accountable to the people as a whole and not to those who currently buy legislators as slaves were once bought. The separation of religion and state. A healthy (in every way) and expanding middle class, the common cornerstone of democracy in every country legitimately calling itself one. Services available to and supported by ALL of us, from the Post Office to Medicaid to the FDA, EPA and FHA, to name but a few. And I suppose I can legitimately say, this makes me a conservative!
But that's not the whole story either: in accepting 'Cranmer's' definition of conservative for myself, I think of what 'liberal' means as well. For one thing, it connotes generosity. I hope I am as generous as my circumstances permit--not only monetarily, but emotionally, spiritually and intellectually as well. That sort of generosity usually requires 1)some degree of open-heartedness and 2) A willingness to at least hear new ideas, and then to consider them carefully. It certainly does not mean blind acceptance of new ideas, nor should it! All it means is a readiness to at least hear and mull over new ideas before deciding either they have a point or two or are simply dressed-up rubbish. Maybe in order to preserve what's best, and most essential, in our country we need to be conservative in our treatment of the essentials--and liberal as we consider how best to preserve these things for those that come after us.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
CREDIT SCORES: THE BEAST IN EMBRYO?
My wife said something very thought-provoking this morning, something she does fairly often: she remarked on how, when we were growing up, there was no such thing as credit scores. This is true. It's also true that today it's increasingly hard to even get a job, never mind a mortgage, without a halfway-decent credit score. (Cars are something else; unless you want a high-end machine you can still count on credit somewhere to buy a functional auto)
I can understand the rationale behind credit scores: it saves banks and bankers lots of computer legwork and we can also keep track of the quality of our credit for those times when we really need it. These are not bad things in and of themselves, although I for one have NO desire to make things easier for banks or bankers right now; indeed I'm closer than ever to Tom Jefferson's opinion of banks, viz. "I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." This, however, is definitely not to say that this doesn't have the potential, like every other human creation, to become diabolically dangerous.
Look at what's happening today: not only is it hard to find even a job without a decent credit rating, but that can also apply if, so far, you haven't needed to use credit. In addition to which the revelation of how Standard & Poor's, during the past decade, essentially painted s**t gold, then rated it as gold and received profits from it being sold as such. To quote one of their execs to a staffer: "Let's hope we're all wealthy and retired before this house of cards collapses." This in 2006. So S & P knew what they were doing! With this in mind, what is to stop purveyors of credit from asking applicants their political or religious affiliations and using them as at least partial, but maybe crucial, factors in determining who gets credit and who doesn't? Not to mention race? Do we have any safeguards in place to prevent such a thing or at least give warning signals? My opinion is, such safeguards need to be part of a new regulation system for credit bureaus and rating agencies with hard-time penalties attached to violating them.
Remember the words of Revelation 13:16-17: "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free or slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name." To some fringey folks, that's what barcodes uncomfortably resemble. But reading those lines now--just how far a leap is it from where we now are to no one being able to buy or sell--including their own skills--without such a mark of approval from credit rating agencies?? I know some people will think I've gone round the bend, but to them I have just questions, viz. Really? Why do you say that? I'm not saying this is so; all I'm doing is asking questions. Are you ready to ask and consider them? And that's all I'm encouraging anybody--and everybody--to do: consider these questions.
I can understand the rationale behind credit scores: it saves banks and bankers lots of computer legwork and we can also keep track of the quality of our credit for those times when we really need it. These are not bad things in and of themselves, although I for one have NO desire to make things easier for banks or bankers right now; indeed I'm closer than ever to Tom Jefferson's opinion of banks, viz. "I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." This, however, is definitely not to say that this doesn't have the potential, like every other human creation, to become diabolically dangerous.
Look at what's happening today: not only is it hard to find even a job without a decent credit rating, but that can also apply if, so far, you haven't needed to use credit. In addition to which the revelation of how Standard & Poor's, during the past decade, essentially painted s**t gold, then rated it as gold and received profits from it being sold as such. To quote one of their execs to a staffer: "Let's hope we're all wealthy and retired before this house of cards collapses." This in 2006. So S & P knew what they were doing! With this in mind, what is to stop purveyors of credit from asking applicants their political or religious affiliations and using them as at least partial, but maybe crucial, factors in determining who gets credit and who doesn't? Not to mention race? Do we have any safeguards in place to prevent such a thing or at least give warning signals? My opinion is, such safeguards need to be part of a new regulation system for credit bureaus and rating agencies with hard-time penalties attached to violating them.
Remember the words of Revelation 13:16-17: "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free or slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name." To some fringey folks, that's what barcodes uncomfortably resemble. But reading those lines now--just how far a leap is it from where we now are to no one being able to buy or sell--including their own skills--without such a mark of approval from credit rating agencies?? I know some people will think I've gone round the bend, but to them I have just questions, viz. Really? Why do you say that? I'm not saying this is so; all I'm doing is asking questions. Are you ready to ask and consider them? And that's all I'm encouraging anybody--and everybody--to do: consider these questions.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
PROGRESSIVES' PLATFORM FOR 2018, 2020 &....
Here's a platform I think most if not all progressives can and should stand behind for 2022 and 2024. Let's also start picking candidates for ALL offices from the local level up, both state and federal, up to Congress and the Presidency. We should join, and work with, Brand New Congress and Indivisible, to this end. But let's also try to fly under the MSM radar for as long as we possibly can, so feel free to send 1) feedback to me at anglohebraicus@gmail.com and 2) this platform to as many others as possible whom you think might favor it. And look for people whom you think would be good progressive candidates for this or that office. We shall see if simple people power--we the people communicating and discussing with each other, person by person, by e-mail, the social networks and face-to-face--can carry an election with either no or minimal help from the big money dragons. Its success will depend on each and all of us in a very real sense.
Here's the platform as follows:
1)CAMPAIGN FINANCE OVERHAUL--GET CORPORATE $$$ OUT OF ELECTIONS!!!!!
2) Medicare for ALL
3) Minimum wage set AT LEAST at $16/hr.
4) See what uses the 60,000 abandoned factories can be put to. Encourage working people to form democratically-run cooperative businesses in them, including financial encouragement.
5) End all favors to fossil-fuel companies and speed up transition to renewable energies and regenerative forms of agriculture. Lester Brown makes a good point when he notes that after Pearl Harbor, we retooled our economy in a matter of a few months. Yes, the analogy is imperfect but maybe instructive just the same.
6) Progressive taxation with the top rate as high as it needs to be to pay down the debt, keep middle-class programs functioning and help poor people and speed pro-ecology transitions.
7) Expand other necessary programs such as HeadStart and WIC. Cut deep into the military-industrial complex's funding.
8) Pass a law which would render anyone trying to hide their money from Uncle Sam at least under threat of losing their citizenship and forfeit their wealth.
9) Form state banks owned by the people of each state
10) Reinstate Glass-Steagall and discuss nationalizing the Fed
11) Collect information for a National Infrastructure Databank so that we know what needs repair and when. This takes roads, etc. out of the pork barrel. It'll also put people to work inspecting and collecting info on roads, bridges, water-pipes, dams--everything!
12) Once infrastructure information is collected, prioritize and get (re)building. Push towards educational equality across class lines.
13) Commonsense 'militia' regulations as per 2nd Amendment, including a permanent ban on private ownership of all military-style firearms and plastic weapons. Otherwise, firearms ownership to be regulated exactly as is motor vehicle ownership
14) Bring business back under firm and fair regulation coupled with open and firm support of labor's rights to organize.
15) Cool, if not end, culture wars. Support women's rights and LGBT rights but leave marrying same-sex couples by clergy to be settled by each individual church congregation. Resurrect the ERA and no more reactionary judges!
16) END the useless and counterproductive 'war on drugs'. Switch emphasis to prevention and education. Blanket amnesty for ALL imprisoned for nonviolent small-amount-of-drugs crimes. Decriminalize and TAX formerly illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, hashish, peyote and opiates. Regulate these drugs along the same lines as alcohol (maybe sell them in State or package stores) with warning labels on them as we have on tobacco.
17) Compulsory two years of National Service for ALL between high school and college, including but not limited to the Armed Forces, ACTION, Teacher Corps, urban or rural internships. Inductees may indicate preferences but with understanding that they are subordinate to service needs. ONLY honest conscientious objectors may be excused from the possibility of military service.
18) Term limits to be discussed and deliberated. (Suggestion: no one may spend more than 30 years total in elective office, ex. six terms (12 years) in the House plus three terms (18 years) in the Senate.
19) Cut Congress's salaries by half and double the number of representatives. All former elected officials will have Medicare, but no more insurance without paying for it.
20) No more 'voter fraud' scams. A national system of voter registration
21) No more 'revolving door' between Congress and lobbyists
22) Encourage states to adopt ranked choice voting and/or proportional representation
23) Removal of the 75-year pension window requirement from the USPS.
24) Put a firm economic 'floor' in place in addition to strengthening and increasing the 'ladders' into the middle classes
25) In the Middle East, 'evenhandedness' will apply only to secularizers of the Arab/Muslim states. 'Evenhandedness' will be based on close listening to what Arabs and other Muslims tell each other as per Israel (which will remain our ally) and the West. Cool current relations with Turkey and make it clear that re-warming them depends on re-secularization.
26) Make it clear that our closest allies will always be fellow democracies and that 'democracy' means free and fearless public discussion and examination of religious faith along with anything else.Openly promulgate liberty--ESPECIALLY religious liberty--throughout the globe. Encourage honest dialogue and discourage those who can't take satire and/or honest questions.
27) A thoroughgoing re-education of law enforcement so that people of color will not be gunned down, most of them unarmed, while crazy-ass armed whites are talked into surrender
More points are likely to be added with time. Feel free to offer suggestions.
Please pass this on to at least twelve more people as you love our country! If you haven't that many on your e-mail list that's OK; just send it to all. This is one campaign cycle where I feel we the people need to do something RADICALLY different from past campaigns; join me if you feel the same way. God bless you all and--in a most urgent way--God save the United States of America!
2) Medicare for ALL
3) Minimum wage set AT LEAST at $16/hr.
4) See what uses the 60,000 abandoned factories can be put to. Encourage working people to form democratically-run cooperative businesses in them, including financial encouragement.
5) End all favors to fossil-fuel companies and speed up transition to renewable energies and regenerative forms of agriculture. Lester Brown makes a good point when he notes that after Pearl Harbor, we retooled our economy in a matter of a few months. Yes, the analogy is imperfect but maybe instructive just the same.
6) Progressive taxation with the top rate as high as it needs to be to pay down the debt, keep middle-class programs functioning and help poor people and speed pro-ecology transitions.
7) Expand other necessary programs such as HeadStart and WIC. Cut deep into the military-industrial complex's funding.
8) Pass a law which would render anyone trying to hide their money from Uncle Sam at least under threat of losing their citizenship and forfeit their wealth.
9) Form state banks owned by the people of each state
10) Reinstate Glass-Steagall and discuss nationalizing the Fed
11) Collect information for a National Infrastructure Databank so that we know what needs repair and when. This takes roads, etc. out of the pork barrel. It'll also put people to work inspecting and collecting info on roads, bridges, water-pipes, dams--everything!
12) Once infrastructure information is collected, prioritize and get (re)building. Push towards educational equality across class lines.
13) Commonsense 'militia' regulations as per 2nd Amendment, including a permanent ban on private ownership of all military-style firearms and plastic weapons. Otherwise, firearms ownership to be regulated exactly as is motor vehicle ownership
14) Bring business back under firm and fair regulation coupled with open and firm support of labor's rights to organize.
15) Cool, if not end, culture wars. Support women's rights and LGBT rights but leave marrying same-sex couples by clergy to be settled by each individual church congregation. Resurrect the ERA and no more reactionary judges!
16) END the useless and counterproductive 'war on drugs'. Switch emphasis to prevention and education. Blanket amnesty for ALL imprisoned for nonviolent small-amount-of-drugs crimes. Decriminalize and TAX formerly illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, hashish, peyote and opiates. Regulate these drugs along the same lines as alcohol (maybe sell them in State or package stores) with warning labels on them as we have on tobacco.
17) Compulsory two years of National Service for ALL between high school and college, including but not limited to the Armed Forces, ACTION, Teacher Corps, urban or rural internships. Inductees may indicate preferences but with understanding that they are subordinate to service needs. ONLY honest conscientious objectors may be excused from the possibility of military service.
18) Term limits to be discussed and deliberated. (Suggestion: no one may spend more than 30 years total in elective office, ex. six terms (12 years) in the House plus three terms (18 years) in the Senate.
19) Cut Congress's salaries by half and double the number of representatives. All former elected officials will have Medicare, but no more insurance without paying for it.
20) No more 'voter fraud' scams. A national system of voter registration
21) No more 'revolving door' between Congress and lobbyists
22) Encourage states to adopt ranked choice voting and/or proportional representation
23) Removal of the 75-year pension window requirement from the USPS.
24) Put a firm economic 'floor' in place in addition to strengthening and increasing the 'ladders' into the middle classes
25) In the Middle East, 'evenhandedness' will apply only to secularizers of the Arab/Muslim states. 'Evenhandedness' will be based on close listening to what Arabs and other Muslims tell each other as per Israel (which will remain our ally) and the West. Cool current relations with Turkey and make it clear that re-warming them depends on re-secularization.
26) Make it clear that our closest allies will always be fellow democracies and that 'democracy' means free and fearless public discussion and examination of religious faith along with anything else.Openly promulgate liberty--ESPECIALLY religious liberty--throughout the globe. Encourage honest dialogue and discourage those who can't take satire and/or honest questions.
27) A thoroughgoing re-education of law enforcement so that people of color will not be gunned down, most of them unarmed, while crazy-ass armed whites are talked into surrender
More points are likely to be added with time. Feel free to offer suggestions.
Please pass this on to at least twelve more people as you love our country! If you haven't that many on your e-mail list that's OK; just send it to all. This is one campaign cycle where I feel we the people need to do something RADICALLY different from past campaigns; join me if you feel the same way. God bless you all and--in a most urgent way--God save the United States of America!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
BACK TO IBN RUSHD (AKA AVERROES)!
Where is Ibn Rushd when we all need him more than ever?
This is not a frivolous question, but a very serious one. In the third century A.D.,the Christian theologian Tertullian asked: "What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?"
What he meant by this was, essentially, what do empirically-based knowledge and divine revelation have to do with one another? This viewpoint continued to be important for a few centuries. Enough for the last Roman Emperors to order the old Greek academies closed once Christianity became compulsory courtesy of the emperor Theodosius in 390. I am not as well acquainted with the process of reconciliation in Judaism as I am in Christianity, but I'm willing to bet Ben Maimon (also known as Maimonides) at least completed that process in Judaism as Thomas Aquinas (with addenda from the Franciscan scientist Roger Bacon) performed that very necessary-for-scientific-and-technological-service for--actually, more for Western Christianity as opposed to Eastern Christianity. What Aquinas, BenMaimon et al did was:they constructed the philosophical underpinnings by which scientific and technological progress could live under the umbrella of, and be seen as being part of, divine revelation.Without this, some nutty monk or hedgerow priest might have been able to call even a windmill heretical. (Step up, Don Quixote!) A millennium ago, Islam led the world in science and technology. They did so because the Caliphate had plenty of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians inside it and because there was then a Muslim party called the Mu'tazilites. Suffice it to say for the moment, their theology left the door open for human reason, and empirically acquired knowledge, to come under the umbrella of divine revelation. One of, if not the, foremost Mu'tazilite known as Ibn Rushd or Averroes, actually laid the ground for the work of both Aquinas and Maimonides. The Mu'tazilites were opposed by the Ash'arites.The Ash'arites basically said, nothing happens without God taking an active part and to say anything else is heresy. So, too, is the idea of humans being co-creators with God. Essentially, they did not believe in the laws of physics nor even in cause and effect. The Ash'arites won and, today, the Muslim sects without the Ash'arite stamp on them need to be looked for. Mainstream Islam is almost completely Ash'arite today. There are those seeking to reopen the doors of free inquiry and independent research within Islam today, and their numbers are growing, but they need an oilfield or two under them to have the power they need to spread their words and to have those who agree with them to courageously say so instead of keeping a cowardly silence. That's also one reason the Islamists are doomed to defeat: without Jews and Christians, all of whom the Islamists wish to murder, all the techno-scientific progress of the last six centuries would go gurgling down the drain and the resurgent Caliphate would be hardly larger than 500 years ago, except maybe for new areas of Eurabia.Underpinnings are important, ladies and gentlemen! If they go, so do the bridges! Maybe not immediately, but soon--and Muslims could not shore them up and no one else, if they're smart, would want to do it for them!
In my opinion, the two 'persons' Islam needs today more than ever are: 1)Thomas Aquinas, to build the underpinnings for earthly progress, and 2)Thomas Jefferson, to apply to Islam what the original said of Christianity: "If my neighbor says there are thirty gods, or no god, what is that to me? It neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket." Maybe today's Islam needs many Aquinases and Jeffersons, but they need to act together, in concert and with the faith that it is they, as opposed to the Islamist enemies of all of us, who are truly doing God's work. Only thus will they find the strength and courage they need to contend with the common enemies of all of modern civilization. The Islamists are enemies to the best in Islam as well as everything in other faiths; that cannot be said often enough right here, right now. Perhaps the anti-Islamist Muslims ought to have, "Back To Ibn Rushd!" as a rallying cry.
This is not a frivolous question, but a very serious one. In the third century A.D.,the Christian theologian Tertullian asked: "What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?"
What he meant by this was, essentially, what do empirically-based knowledge and divine revelation have to do with one another? This viewpoint continued to be important for a few centuries. Enough for the last Roman Emperors to order the old Greek academies closed once Christianity became compulsory courtesy of the emperor Theodosius in 390. I am not as well acquainted with the process of reconciliation in Judaism as I am in Christianity, but I'm willing to bet Ben Maimon (also known as Maimonides) at least completed that process in Judaism as Thomas Aquinas (with addenda from the Franciscan scientist Roger Bacon) performed that very necessary-for-scientific-and-technological-service for--actually, more for Western Christianity as opposed to Eastern Christianity. What Aquinas, BenMaimon et al did was:they constructed the philosophical underpinnings by which scientific and technological progress could live under the umbrella of, and be seen as being part of, divine revelation.Without this, some nutty monk or hedgerow priest might have been able to call even a windmill heretical. (Step up, Don Quixote!) A millennium ago, Islam led the world in science and technology. They did so because the Caliphate had plenty of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians inside it and because there was then a Muslim party called the Mu'tazilites. Suffice it to say for the moment, their theology left the door open for human reason, and empirically acquired knowledge, to come under the umbrella of divine revelation. One of, if not the, foremost Mu'tazilite known as Ibn Rushd or Averroes, actually laid the ground for the work of both Aquinas and Maimonides. The Mu'tazilites were opposed by the Ash'arites.The Ash'arites basically said, nothing happens without God taking an active part and to say anything else is heresy. So, too, is the idea of humans being co-creators with God. Essentially, they did not believe in the laws of physics nor even in cause and effect. The Ash'arites won and, today, the Muslim sects without the Ash'arite stamp on them need to be looked for. Mainstream Islam is almost completely Ash'arite today. There are those seeking to reopen the doors of free inquiry and independent research within Islam today, and their numbers are growing, but they need an oilfield or two under them to have the power they need to spread their words and to have those who agree with them to courageously say so instead of keeping a cowardly silence. That's also one reason the Islamists are doomed to defeat: without Jews and Christians, all of whom the Islamists wish to murder, all the techno-scientific progress of the last six centuries would go gurgling down the drain and the resurgent Caliphate would be hardly larger than 500 years ago, except maybe for new areas of Eurabia.Underpinnings are important, ladies and gentlemen! If they go, so do the bridges! Maybe not immediately, but soon--and Muslims could not shore them up and no one else, if they're smart, would want to do it for them!
In my opinion, the two 'persons' Islam needs today more than ever are: 1)Thomas Aquinas, to build the underpinnings for earthly progress, and 2)Thomas Jefferson, to apply to Islam what the original said of Christianity: "If my neighbor says there are thirty gods, or no god, what is that to me? It neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket." Maybe today's Islam needs many Aquinases and Jeffersons, but they need to act together, in concert and with the faith that it is they, as opposed to the Islamist enemies of all of us, who are truly doing God's work. Only thus will they find the strength and courage they need to contend with the common enemies of all of modern civilization. The Islamists are enemies to the best in Islam as well as everything in other faiths; that cannot be said often enough right here, right now. Perhaps the anti-Islamist Muslims ought to have, "Back To Ibn Rushd!" as a rallying cry.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Save The Children
This Good Friday I have a few things on my mind, but one thing seems to be outstanding: children. Specifically, how abused children are by different branches of the two larger Abrahamic faith communities. That example closest to home for most of us is, of course, the discoveries not only of much more sexual abuse of children than was believed among the Catholic clergy here and in Europe but, possibly worse, the almost systematic coverup of it among the bishops. The cherry atop this ugly-tasting sundae is that Benedict (Should I say Maladict?)when he was still just Josef RatZinger, was in on the coverup. Now John Allen said that Ratzinger wanted to move much quicker than anyone else in the Church hierarchy against this abuse and I for one have no reason to disbelieve him. However, I do wonder (considering how much more ground the Pope has to cover) where did Ratzinger start? Is the rest of the hierarchy that far back? God help us all, then!
Lest any Islamists start gloating, let me also say that (to date) Islam comes off looking just as bad if not even worse. Did Muhammad really marry Ayesha when he was MY age (53) and she was SIX?! And did he really consummate with her three years later when she was NINE?!? To say this does NOT look good is putting it very, VERY mildly. Branches of contemporary Islam come off no better: Warlock Ayatollah Khomeini actually said an infant daughter still at her mother's breast could be promised to some dirty old man (like himself) Not to mention child marriage is still legal on the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Gulf states?) and, finally, the Palestinian Authority is showing less love for their people's children than the Israelis and Westerners are: they encourage children to become suicide bombers. If any individuals or societies have done worse by their children, don't tell me; I don't want to know!
Maureen Dowd is probably right: a nun needs to be chosen Pope to clean up this particularly noisome mess. Also, one of the first tasks of reopened ijtihad has to be to render Islam as a whole plenty more child-friendly than it currently is. But let us all pray that children be loved and taught without abuse. Let us pray for ourselves as well that we might create more effective safeguards against such abuse which always means a premature end to real childhood. Let us also remember Who it is that said,"Let the children come to me, and don't hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." (MT 19:14)
Lest any Islamists start gloating, let me also say that (to date) Islam comes off looking just as bad if not even worse. Did Muhammad really marry Ayesha when he was MY age (53) and she was SIX?! And did he really consummate with her three years later when she was NINE?!? To say this does NOT look good is putting it very, VERY mildly. Branches of contemporary Islam come off no better: Warlock Ayatollah Khomeini actually said an infant daughter still at her mother's breast could be promised to some dirty old man (like himself) Not to mention child marriage is still legal on the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Gulf states?) and, finally, the Palestinian Authority is showing less love for their people's children than the Israelis and Westerners are: they encourage children to become suicide bombers. If any individuals or societies have done worse by their children, don't tell me; I don't want to know!
Maureen Dowd is probably right: a nun needs to be chosen Pope to clean up this particularly noisome mess. Also, one of the first tasks of reopened ijtihad has to be to render Islam as a whole plenty more child-friendly than it currently is. But let us all pray that children be loved and taught without abuse. Let us pray for ourselves as well that we might create more effective safeguards against such abuse which always means a premature end to real childhood. Let us also remember Who it is that said,"Let the children come to me, and don't hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." (MT 19:14)
WELCOME
Welcome to my new blog, ladies and gentlemen. I will be commenting on a wide range of issues--political, environmental, religio-theological, spiritual, and intellectual but always independent and never along an unthinking party line. I will blow the trumpet loudest for freedom of expression and, above all, complete religious LIBERTY everywhere on earth! Reopen the doors to ijtihad and anchor them to stay open! As temporal entities, Christendom and the Caliphate are equally dead and both need stakes through their black hearts!!
INDISPENSABLE FOR SALVATION, TOO
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IS INDISPENSABLE NOT
ONLY FOR PROGRESSIVE, CIVILIZED LIFE BUT ALSO FOR SALVATION ITSELF!!
That's right, everyone! Your eyes are not--I repeat, are not--playing tricks on you!! I say that as we fight this war against terrorism one of our war aims, worldwide religious liberty needs to be one of them, if not the chief aim!
Those of you now reading this are probably asking yourselves, "Why is religious liberty indispensable to salvation?" Well, let's explore this a little bit. Especially in light of one of the mightiest prophetic phrases from the book of Micah,6:8:"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
If we believe we know all there is to know about any of the subjects mentioned by this passage(especially the last) that attitude, in and of itself, will render real humility in walking with God well nigh impossible. And without genuine humility before the incomprehensible magnitude and quality of God, acting justly becomes a near impossibility and the love of mercy becomes absolutely impossible.
Think about it, buoys and gulls. Take these pieces and see in your own minds and hearts how they fit together. And now I'll have some questions for each and all of you.
1) Is it more possible to relate to God with genuine humility in an atmosphere of religious liberty--that is, where the responsibility of having a personal relationship with God is squarely on you and none other--or where one community of faith is, or a select group of such communities are, supported by the state? Do some of you see how the state actually gets in the way of such relationships, especially under cover of trying to facilitate them?
2) Will we be more aware of how much we don't know about God--indeed, of what we can't know about God as long as we live on Earth--under religious liberty or a religion established by law? Do or don't 'closed' systems promote closed minds?
What I believe we can know from Scripture (and to some extent from our own experience) is that God loves us all, enough to send His Son so that we might have the power to become sons and daughters of God (John 1:12, 3:16-17) So long as someone else's way to be close to God doesn't jeopardize our lives, liberties or property, let us proceed with care and ask more questions as opposed to laying down decrees. God is perfect, but none of us are and perfection is rarely, if ever, achieved in this world. Let's keep that in mind. This is why the 'images' we have of God need to be open-ended--so they can grow and change as each of us grows in the Spirit.
ONLY FOR PROGRESSIVE, CIVILIZED LIFE BUT ALSO FOR SALVATION ITSELF!!
That's right, everyone! Your eyes are not--I repeat, are not--playing tricks on you!! I say that as we fight this war against terrorism one of our war aims, worldwide religious liberty needs to be one of them, if not the chief aim!
Those of you now reading this are probably asking yourselves, "Why is religious liberty indispensable to salvation?" Well, let's explore this a little bit. Especially in light of one of the mightiest prophetic phrases from the book of Micah,6:8:"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
If we believe we know all there is to know about any of the subjects mentioned by this passage(especially the last) that attitude, in and of itself, will render real humility in walking with God well nigh impossible. And without genuine humility before the incomprehensible magnitude and quality of God, acting justly becomes a near impossibility and the love of mercy becomes absolutely impossible.
Think about it, buoys and gulls. Take these pieces and see in your own minds and hearts how they fit together. And now I'll have some questions for each and all of you.
1) Is it more possible to relate to God with genuine humility in an atmosphere of religious liberty--that is, where the responsibility of having a personal relationship with God is squarely on you and none other--or where one community of faith is, or a select group of such communities are, supported by the state? Do some of you see how the state actually gets in the way of such relationships, especially under cover of trying to facilitate them?
2) Will we be more aware of how much we don't know about God--indeed, of what we can't know about God as long as we live on Earth--under religious liberty or a religion established by law? Do or don't 'closed' systems promote closed minds?
What I believe we can know from Scripture (and to some extent from our own experience) is that God loves us all, enough to send His Son so that we might have the power to become sons and daughters of God (John 1:12, 3:16-17) So long as someone else's way to be close to God doesn't jeopardize our lives, liberties or property, let us proceed with care and ask more questions as opposed to laying down decrees. God is perfect, but none of us are and perfection is rarely, if ever, achieved in this world. Let's keep that in mind. This is why the 'images' we have of God need to be open-ended--so they can grow and change as each of us grows in the Spirit.
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