The American Spectator

Truth| 3.31.11 @ 6:15AM

I think that you leave out the self inflicted issues of child molestation upon the Catholic Church.

Ryan| 3.31.11 @ 7:53AM

I think you're pressing an agenda on an article and a topic that it has nothing to do with.

Michael Tomlinson| 3.31.11 @ 8:55AM

Amen!

Darragh| 3.31.11 @ 11:46AM

Organized religion is too hard and we are still protected and lazy. The great poet Czeslaw Milosz noted that WW II gave people the opportunity to see the face of evil vs. good and increased their faith. My church was full after 9/11 (and it still pretty much is, which you'd never know from the media and FYI I'm a proud Catholic). If we, God forbid, have a tragedy like Japan's, the religion of Oprah ain't gonna be much help.

tadcf| 3.31.11 @ 10:55AM

The sooner religion becomes extinct, the better.

Doctor Right| 3.31.11 @ 12:26PM

If religion becomes "extinct" (an idiotic presumption, to say the least), mankind will be at the mercy of other mens' whims.

In other words, mankind will be doomed.

K962| 3.31.11 @ 6:16AM

Yes it's true that religion is "too hard"! It holds people to standards such as the Ten commandments.
People rather make up their own morals and values.
Then they fell comfortable.

Brian Mc| 3.31.11 @ 6:39AM

I think you might have mis-spoke in that last sentence, K. Or, did you?

And as for "Truth" above, yes, if only that nasty Catholic Religion would just go away. Then, it might be that the same numbers found in the other denominations would be more...apparent.

As for the body of the article; it had me squirming next to my coffee due to the insight. But, alas I find my mind wandering back to the headline from the sixties, "God is Dead". Then, further back to the forties where C.S. Lewis wrote, "Lord, Liar or Lunatic"...we must all choose from the three alternatives, which one is He?

John II| 3.31.11 @ 12:05PM

Well--yes, but it's not just a matter of choosing. The Lewis distinction harkens back to a very old (second-century A.D.) bit of Christian apologetics.

Broadly speaking, the argument goes like this:
Christ claimed divinity: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58--and boy, did He ever get in trouble for THAT one!). That claim leaves us to deduce only three possibilities: He was a liar, He was nuts, or He's God.

1. He was a liar: If he was, that was the only lie He ever told. He certainly wasn't a habitual liar because the really annoying thing about Him is that He keeps telling the truth in a blunt and even shattering way, when the rest of us would have been a tad more discreet. It is utterly implausible to suppose that He was a liar.

2. He was nuts. Well, it's true that the claim to divinity is rather common among deranged people, except for one catch: among the deranged, the claim is always accompanied by a predictable pattern of egocentric and narcissistic behavior utterly absent in the behavior of Christ. Again, a really disconcerting thing about Jesus that comes through in the gospels is something our hearts recognize as a total, seemingly impossible human sanity. So He wasn't nuts, which also eliminates the possibility that He may just have been mistaken: one doesn't make a mistake like THAT without being nuts.

3. Therefore, He's God.

So far as argument goes, it's a matter of honest deduction. So far as the heart goes, of course, it becomes a matter of choice. Just saying.

Janet Belle Isle| 3.31.11 @ 6:29AM

Thank you, Lisa for your insightful piece on faith. You and I both know that God's truth will endure forever, regardless of the foolish in this world. As He says; "Every knee shall bow".

D. Singh| 3.31.11 @ 6:55AM

Sir

If religion is on the way out; then a secular totalitarianism must be on the way in.

History is replete with examples: the French terror; the Gulag of the USSR and the Nazi regime – all products of Enlightenment thought – today represented by Left-liberalism on both sides of the Atlantic.

Progress today means a train trying to catch up with a moving railroad station.

Michael Tomlinson| 3.31.11 @ 8:56AM

Touche!

Kitty| 3.31.11 @ 7:02AM

Michael Voris explains what has happened to the Catholic Church in the past 40 years since progressives took over and "the extent of the destruction their idiotic theologies."

http://www.realcatholictv.com/.....&ssnID=144

Melvin| 3.31.11 @ 8:04AM

Progressives do seem to have a knack for ruining things that they get their mitts on. I have discussions with Roman Catholics from the Philippines, most notably from my wife's Province where there is a Seminary for Nuns and Priests.
It doesn't matter who begins or ends these conversations, but the universal complaint was, "Those Liberal American Catholics."
Many of those who are casting stones at the Catholic Church conveniently forget or disavow that many of the pedophile priests are Liberal. Like every place in society Liberals force their dogma on Conservative Organizations such as pedophilia, and Homosexuality.
My question to Liberals is, "Why are you so shocked, your the ones who forced this plague upon the Catholic Church."
Besides pedophilia is not just regulated to the Catholic Church. Everywhere there are Liberals, there is a safe haven for Pedophiles.

Stuart Koehl| 3.31.11 @ 7:13AM

At the heart of the fallacy is demography.

1. Religious people tend to marry and have large families.

2. The children of religious people themselves tend to be religious, marry other religious people and have large families.

3. Non-religious (secular) people tend not to marry, or to marry late, and to have very small familes (if any).

4. Non-religious people, when they do marry, tend to marry other non-religious people. Their children tend not to be religious, and thus continue the cycle of infertility.

5. The number of non-religious people will therefore decline over the coming decades, while the number of religious people will increase, both by natural reproduction as well as by conversions among the irreligious.

John II| 3.31.11 @ 12:18PM

Hey Stu. Long time no rant. And you just enumerated one of my favorite observations.

I have a stock line I use in response to lefty types when they (rudely and presumptuously, but let it go) broach the topic of my rather large brood of kids, with this or that muted sneer to the effect "what other hobbies have you got?" or "you DO know how your wife got pregnant so often, don't you?" or "don't you have any concern for the environment?"

The stock response: " My wife and I decided we have a moral obligation to help keep the social security fund from drying up."

It shuts them up every time. And we're left with the reassuring thought that the Left is gradually breeding itself out of existence.

Derek Leaberry| 3.31.11 @ 12:38PM

I find it humorous that many Americans find it shocking that my wife and I have six children. Two or three times a year we have been complimented by fellow customers at restaurants and twice we've actually had customers pay for our meals. Yet where I go to Mass, families that have six or more children are not rare.

Yet I expect that birth rates of religious folk will not be able to outstrip a society that revels in moral squalor. The religious have no political home and no political party supporting them. We are considered beneath contempt not only by the left and much of moderate America but also by many "conservatives" who find the religious a troublesome and embarrassing faction. No, the religious folk will have to be content to be a despised minority on the margins of society. Religious Americans will have to form their own parallel society outside the clutches of an enemy government.

John II| 3.31.11 @ 1:30PM

"No, the religious folk will have to be content to be a despised minority on the margins of society. Religious Americans will have to form their own parallel society outside the clutches of an enemy government."

Well, Derek, for the faithful Christians, when was it ever different? It's doubtless more the force of habit than any very deep piety on my part, but I'm sure I'd wonder what the hell I'm doing wrong if the culture started patting me on the back for being a practicing Catholic Christian.

It's quite a balancing act, the Catholic thing. The consolations are mostly indirect, and amid endless temptations of the most subtle kind, you're not permitted even a touch of moral vanity. Satan never sleeps.

Martin Owens| 3.31.11 @ 7:26AM

Summarized neatly on the men's room wall of
a college beer bar:

"God is dead"- Nietzche

" I'm fine. Nietzche is dead" - God

Mike D.| 3.31.11 @ 8:20AM

" I'm fine. Nietzche is dead" - God, LOL

How about "I'm fine. Nietzche's ass is mine"

Religion is a discipline. I spent 8 years in a Catholic school with nuns in the 1960's. After graduating 8th grade I went to a public school for the next 4 years and ran circles around the pubies.
Our pastor and parish founder, Father Hogan, was a 6'4" 240lb Irishman whose sermons at the high mass needed no microphone to make it to the far corners of the huge church. Their were few gray areas as far as the rules and commandments were interpreted by Fr. Hogan. He hated the new liberal Vatican reforms of the 60's and resisted mightily. The Catholic church has many warts and dark histories but its man that used religious principals for his own evil purposes, its not necessarily the principals themselves. Too many today want a one size fits all religion and feel adherence to basic principals and teachings is being "judgemental" in regards to their own lifestyles and choices so they want the "user friendly" liberal hold hands and sing cum-ba-ya version or that the religion they take part in needs to be tailored and changed to fit them. Too many of the modern versions of Christianity are more than willing to sell out the basic principals to attract more butts in the pews. This country was founded on Judeo-Christians beliefs and values that included a self-adherence(not state enforced) to the disciplines of those values and the present moral state of today's society certainly reflects where religious values have gone. We are what we believe, and if we believe nothing then we become nothing.

LarryK| 3.31.11 @ 10:50AM

Last time I check Wikipedia, Nietzche was still dead.
Last night when I looked up into the Universe, I believe God is still around.

Aquanomics| 3.31.11 @ 11:34AM

It's been my understanding that Nietzche did not say, "God is dead," but that intellectuals had killed God. He went on to say that the vacuum thus created would be filled with something else, most likely government. He predicted a dark and bloody 20th century....

It's been a long time since I last thought about this stuff.

henry| 3.31.11 @ 7:55AM

Let God have the last word:

Matt 7:13-14
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(NIV)
and:

Isa 55:10-11
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

There are now more Christians in China than registered communists.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.31.11 @ 8:42AM

Ladies and gentlemen,
well spoken.

Michael Tomlinson| 3.31.11 @ 9:05AM

The Europeans may hope that religion (Christianity) is dead on their spiritually and morally blighted Continent, but its not dead in the US, China, Africa and anywhere the Gospel of Christ is preached and accepted.

The religion that they should hope is dying in Europe is Islam, because if it ever takes over those secular Europeans better "pray" the US and other Christians lands are willing to take them in as refugees or they can bend over and kiss their arrogant derrieres goodbye.

scotchieguy| 3.31.11 @ 11:49AM

Maybe this explains why moslems are taking over Europe. Read--or just google--Mark Steyn's "America Alone," where he argues just what you are saying: Euros are less religious, getting married less frequently, and having fewer babies, so few that they can no longer sustain their entitlement society. The answer? Immigrants, mostly moslem. People say Muslems will never take over Europe, or America, for that matter. People are fools, and forget or have never learned their history. Nothing is static.

Walkthetalk| 3.31.11 @ 9:36AM

When the BBC pronounces religion dead it must be presumed this gleeful announcement pertains to Christianity only. This is true, in Europe. The established church buildings are sparsely attended by old people. This is why Europe in 20 years will become Eurabia. This serves as a warning to America. But there is a distinction between religion and Christianity. Religion requires prescribed actions be adhered to and performed religiously. Islam demands prayer 5x a day, faithful payment of alms tax (to fund jihad), and a trip to Mecca. Another religion requires a lot of prayers be produced, so they use the gimmick of hanging rows of pennants declaring that each time one flaps in the wind it counts as a prayer.

Christianity is not a religion. No deeds need be performed, nor prayers need be piled up, nor murders need be committed to attain paradise. Christianity is life. Remember the robber on the cross? He did nothing but turn to Jesus in faith (repent), and declare Jesus' innocence and his own sin (turning away from God) to have life. Jesus promised him paradise (life) then and there. Sin is the culprit. It is the spiritual state all are born into. It causes morality to be inverted where good is seen as bad and bad is embraced as desirable. It forces a juvenile or spoiled teenager worldview on those enthralled by it (see Obama). It normalizes lying (see Obama), codifies envy (socialism), encourages murder (abortion), among other things. People caught in this spiritual state can not be spoken to civilly, like children, they call names and shout down those who they don't agree with. God meant people to be naturally with him, not disconnected from him by the power of self-centered desire (sin).

No deeds (religion) are necessary, just turn to Jesus (repent) wholeheartedly. Churches are not necessary - Jesus is. When repentance is real we enter Jesus spiritually, and he enters us. It is like giving electricity to an electrical appliance. It is what we were designed for. (See www.christforamericans.com for more about life in Christ.) This is when deeds are performed, as a result of being connected to God, not in order to get connected to him. It is also when prayers are effective. Americans need to be reconnected to God or this country will go the way of Europe. If we continue to eschew Christ or embrace religiosity (lefty Christianity) America could eventually become Amexica, where drugs is king and gangs rule. Don't let this happen. Repent.

Louis Jenkins| 3.31.11 @ 9:37AM

Christainity may be dying in Europe, but it is alive and well in the USA. We have churches on every corner and byway. Inspite of what the mainstreamers may believe the day of worship still holds its spell on many a common person. Let's not forget it. Hope to see you in church on Sunday or Saturday, depending on your beliefs.

Bill| 3.31.11 @ 9:58AM

What are the nine nations in which religion may become extinct?

I'd like to know.

Derek Leaberry| 3.31.11 @ 10:03AM

Lisa Fabrizio's column is excellent and true. Yet it must be admitted that many who call themselves "conservative" are themselves in bed with the Dark Father. Two write for this site- Philip Klein and Aaron Goldstein, both of whom's contempt for Christian morality is readily apparent. The moral code of each man is more similar to that of Christopher Hitchens than it is to his Anglican brother Peter.

Stefan Stackhouse| 3.31.11 @ 10:15AM

Were all of organized religion - all of the church buildings, professional clergy, ecclesiastical organizations, liturgies and rituals, etc. - to be swept away with the wind, I am certain that there would still be people who believe in Jesus Christ and try to follow him. They would probably also not just be loners, but would try to link up with each other for mutual encouragement as best as they could. Such people may be few in number, but then Jesus always did warn us to expect as much, didn't he?

JP| 3.31.11 @ 10:21AM

Before we Americans pat ourselves on the back, we should take note that while there are churches sprouting up around every block, the content of the churches may not be featuring what we call orthodox Christianity. The fact that so many people church shop these days is telling. We have everything from small groups of people who attend services in old strip malls to mega-churches that feature everything from recording studios to cafes (what's next? Hooters?). The Emgergent Church movement is just another rendition of Church V2.0 . Not even Catholic parishes are immune. What use to be called the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is now called Liturgy. The Church used to require that Catholics at least devote an hour each week to participating in a very sober reflection of Christ's life, death, and ressurection. Communion used to be the highlight of every Catholic. Now we have guitar masses featuring hippies and dancing nuns. Artificial Birth Control is now practiced by 80% of Catholic couples. The Church still teaches that it is a mortal sin. Yet, the communion lines are filled every Sunday.

But, at least in the US people the religious instinct isn't quite dead as it is in Europe. But we are getting there.

Mike D.| 3.31.11 @ 10:56AM

When the hippie folk mass routine started our pastor wouldn't allow it in the main church, they had to have it in the parish hall in the school.

CalMark| 3.31.11 @ 12:20PM

Liberals have hijacked much of Christianity and turned it into leftist neo-paganism. Being "with it" (that tired old hippie term) and bowing to leftist shibboleths, most of them heretical, trumps timeless Biblical teachings. It's more "relevant" that way, old-fashioned Christianity being so--well--you know, judgmental, the greatest sin in Leftism unless traditionalists are the target--then it's a virtue.

On a purely human level, committed Leftists are harsh, tyrranical, humorless, and cold. Or, as so many have said over the years, leftists love humanity and hate people. That drives people, especially the young, away from religions the leftists have hijacked.

Conservative School Counselor| 3.31.11 @ 11:16AM

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton

Oldefarte| 3.31.11 @ 12:01PM

Sadly, religion is on the way out. Europe of yesteryear was highly religious, yet today religions are barely evident. This country is following suit. Correspondingly, crimes of all manner are on the increase, and its causation no doubt is due to same. Additionally, religions [ie the Catholic Church] have been purposely invaded by ignostics/pedifiles/statists in order to destroy from within [and their actions are successful]. We are slowely becoming a world exemplified by Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan, the academic-leftists of universities/colleges, etc [as opposed to the Billy Grahams, Bishop Sheen's etc of former times]. Parents wonder why their children become uncontrollable, while being blinded to their offsprings' daily/hourly brainwashing from the 24-7 viewing of Hollywood produced movies and TV shows. The excrement is swirling around our toilet bowls and will quickly disappear into the septic tanks of our existence, if we don't take steps to prevent same from happening. As the Pope indicates, humans are created with the concept of FREE WILL, and only on JUDGEMENT DAY will we be individually judged!!!!!!!!!!

Francis W. Porretto| 3.31.11 @ 12:08PM

I purely loved this bit of the quoted passage:

"I cannot understand how otherwise intelegent people can belive in a supreame being that controls all of our lives."

This...person undoubtedly considers himself above-average "intelegent."

Kelly Staples| 3.31.11 @ 12:23PM

Recently a 14 year-old Pakistani girl was raped. Under the terms of Sharia law she was lashed to death because she had commited "adultery". Sounds pretty orthodox to me. Is that "hard" enough for the faithful?

Joe D.| 3.31.11 @ 12:27PM

Well said Lisa, except for listening to the Pope per say. Us Christians agree with most of what the Pope says but not all. But your article was great.

Finally, I think that when a nation, such as ours, becomes wealth we tend to become appathetic towards God/Jesus.

CalMark| 3.31.11 @ 12:49PM

There was no need to take a swipe at the Pope. What's your point? You hate Catholics? How Christian of you.

The Pope Benedict quote is universally applicable to all Christians. Catholics wouldn't dismiss it if Billy Graham had said it.

Or do you so intensely despise the Papacy and Catholicism that it blinds you to common Christianity?

David T| 3.31.11 @ 12:38PM

If religious affiliation means membership in a particular denomination, than it probaly is waning, as Lisa Fabrizio says. But look at the growth of the non-denominational churches, not only in the US but around the world--especially in the "Southern Cone." Granted, religion may not be as "hard" in some of these churches, but the quite evident spiritual hunger of millions of people contradicts the "extinction" position.

ONTIME| 3.31.11 @ 12:48PM

It would be a pestilence on mankind should a religion emphasizing a moral love of man and free will were to be abolished or banned and a cult of intolerence and hate were to try and replace the love of God.
The way the MSM and the cult islamics attack the jewish and christian religion and beliefs you would think the chances for suvival were slim but kindness, love of man and tolerance have a way of surfacing in bleek times and for those who belief is unshakable the knowledge that God has his eye on all, there is comfort. This country was built by men who believed the nation was based upon Judeo Christian belief and that it is guided by devine providence, we are still battling for good over evil and this nation is a refuge.

CalMark| 3.31.11 @ 12:51PM

Christianity will not die. But there's no guarantee it will be as powerful and influential as it still is today.

Anyway, the obituary for Christianity has been written repeatedly, and mistakenly, for well over a century now. Wishful thinking doth not reality create.

Dave Williams| 3.31.11 @ 12:51PM

"Christianity is founded on love"...what utter tripe. "Jesus loves you"....and if you don't love him back, as so many of his followers never tire of reminding us, you'll burn in hellfire for eternity. Sorry, no sale here.

Maryland Lady| 3.31.11 @ 1:03PM

Are you an atheist, Dave? Because if you are, and something I always find interesting is when atheists who don't believe in God, give a crap about those of us who do, what we think about where the atheists are going when they die. If you don't believe, why care what Christians think?? Why get so angry? And why don't those who like to bash Christianity take the time to bash the extreme nature of Islamists? I wish people who have such hatred for those of us who are Christians just leave us the hell alone. Is it really that troubling when you hear Jesus' name, that it's alive and has depth that is hard to ignore? Please explain to me why it is assumed that the majority of us who have deep faith are believing in myths??

Kay| 3.31.11 @ 1:26PM

The writer has some good points. As Christians, we are to live as we believe and are taught, according to God's Word. Seems we have it the other way around. In our flesh and selfishness, aka: sin, we believe as we live. The world will always have its own wisdom, but godly wisdom only comes from above, from God. We have followed the world for so long that we no longer see who we really are according to God and His will for our lives. We believe that we can do all things and yet, not all things are wise. Has it been the best for society that Christian women who are married are working away from home while their children are being raised by socialist government schools? Almost all of our social ills today are because women were sold the lie that they could "have it all". In the Garden of Eden, Eve was told she could have all knowledge and "be like God". As her curse she was given just that: her desire would be for her husband. Many think this means a physical desire, but it really means she would desire what her husband has-- after all, she was usurping his authority by going off on her own, out from under the protection of her God-given earthly protector. What consequences this has wrought! As a woman, I am grieved for my daughters that they now live in a society where they are not considered to be the "weaker" sex, nor are they considered lovely for their virtuous ways. They have reaped what they have sown; as a result, women have become like men, stronger, and men have become like women, weaker. Not to say men haven't their own burden to bear for this aberration, but women hold the key to a godly society in so many ways because they are the nurturers of the next generation. As the saying goes, "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world". Who is rocking the cradle today? Certainly as Christians, we cannot expect that our faith will inspire or draw people to ask life or death questions when we look no different in our life choices from the world in which we live.

Our problem, from the beginning, has been sin, sin, and more sin. We are nothing but filthy rags, and the righteousness of Christ and his perfect atonement is the only remedy for our sin.

“It may readily be conceived that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the other, both are degraded, and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and disorderly women.” ~Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Bill| 3.31.11 @ 1:42PM

One must always remember to make the distinction between religion and the churches that spring up to practice that religion.

Religion comes from God. Churches come from man. God never errs; churches often do.

Jeremiah| 3.31.11 @ 1:47PM

More whistling past the graveyard by the charlatans and sophists who prevail among the 'sophisticated' these days. God is letting us see a bit of what our wisdom and sophistication leads to when detached from him.

The sophistry of ignorant sophistication is about to hit the graveyard as the consequences of their folly lead millions back to the wisdom that we must rely on God and on each other - not on the foolish machinations of utopians and government leaders.

Minnesota Broad| 3.31.11 @ 3:26PM

All "religion" is based on stories that cannot be proven as truth. Nobody has ever proven that the Bible (in any form) is any more or less factual than any other religion's stories, regarless of cultural origin. The only real difference between them is which one you have faith in, which one you find believable enough to accept as truth. For many people, particularly younger people, the increased access to information about other religions, to practitioners of other religions, to historical artifacts that back up or refute one religion or another, has given them the opportunity to accept or reject any number of religious possibilities.

This is something that no previous generation has had before - the ability to discuss and learn about religions practiced on the other side of the world, directly and immediately. Gone are the days when the only religion one is exposed to is the one that your family and all your neighbors practice. As people move about more freely, they bring their religious practices with them. There are still some small pockets where there is only one acceptable belief system, but they are few and far between, and often need to be preseved only by keeping all outside access restricted.

And there are many younger people who, after looking at the wide variety of faiths, at the similarities and differences between them, at the wars and fighting that have happened between and within them, reject dogmatic organized religion altogether - not because it is "easier" or because it lets them do whatever they want, but because they see much of the hypocracy of people who preach one thing and do another exposed.

Rejection of organized religion does not mean rejection of morality - morality is not confined to Christianity or Judaism or Islam alone. Morals and laws are the formalized practices that develop when groups of people live adjacent or among each other, so they can get along. There are similar rules to "the 10 commandments" in every civilization - don't take things that don't belong to you, don't kill each other, etc. They're just common sense, universal rules - not exclusive to the "JudeoChristian" religion.

Tony in Central PA| 4.2.11 @ 9:27PM

" ... still some small pockets where there is only one acceptable belief system .. " ? Let's see, would those " pockets " include most of the Middle East, North Africa, China and Indonesia ?

The reality is that most of today's young people who have " exposure " to various religions, even the religions in their own community, have a very superficial conception of what would be identified as the orthodoxy of those religions.

Jeremiah| 3.31.11 @ 3:51PM

Well, Minnesota Broad, I sure wish you had more of an education on history and cultures - beyond the PC yearnings that substitute for learning today.

While there is much in all religions that cannot be historically confirmed, all are not equal in this regard. Both the Old and New Testament are important historical source documents....with much of their context confirmed by other independent source documents. They are remarkably reliable documents that are constantly being buttressed by archaeological findings that further confirm them. Now, of course, the miraculous in them cannot, in most instances, be independently confirmed, but the verisimilitude of the historical incidents in the texts bolsters the evidentiary quality of the rest of the narratives.

As for the moral laws, they most assuredly are NOT embedded in every culture. They are not even embedded in MOST cultures. They are common throughout most of western civilization. But you clearly are unfamiliar with the great mass of native Amercan cultures (both north and south), African and Asian cultures and, frankly, many Eastern European medieval cultures. Many had some equivalents of SOME of the commandments, but applied them only to their own tribe. Many made a test of manhood out of stealing, or killing, those from another tribe. Very common among indigenous Indian cultures here in North America, but not nearly as barbarous as the constant human sacrifices in Central and South American cultures - in which wars were often started just so each side could get enough prisoners to keep the human sacrifice machine going.

So next time you want to come on with your little "we intelligent people are far too bright to fall for your silly stories and superstitions" routine, you might try actually knowing a little something first.

Mistral| 3.31.11 @ 4:21PM

Frankly speaking, the BBC has become increasingly like the tabloid newsmedia it used to tower above with its once objective approach to journalism & newsreporting. I shall always love The Blessed Trinity in the reality of Faith and the eternal truth of The Gospel. As for most young people today who spend much of their time in the illusory virtual space of images and simulacra or in reducing their mental capacity through habitual substance abuse, they do not have a clue about anything very much. Some youth, fortuitously, have understood the true meaning and significance of the metaphysical realm but all too few. Christ prophecied that when he comes again would He find Faith on Earth. It was a rhetorical question as He knew well enough that as man fooled himself more & more in his own vanity to believe he was in control his own destiny the divine lesson of chastisement for self-idolatry would condemn him to self-destruction. We are almost at that point when good is seen as evil and evil good. The Lord is on His way whether the dumb, blind and mute are willing to repent or not. Come He will & fulfill the prophecies of the ages with or without the imbeciles today who deceive themselves into thinking they are now in command. The Lord will laugh them to scorn.

Kingofthenet| 3.31.11 @ 4:35PM

"so-called scientific community"

Yup, that's sure showing Science respect, but what else would you expect from some 'Discovery Institute" knuckle dragger.

Minnesota Broad| 3.31.11 @ 4:54PM

Jeremiah, you need to do a little studying outside the closeted realms of Christianity. I have, indeed, studied other religions - for the past 40 years, I have been studying religion from around the world. You do realize that Chrsitianity is still a young religion - there were religions that were practiced for millenia prior to the Council of Nicea. There is no - I repeat no - verifiable physical or written proof that Jesus existed as a single person - let alone his being a demigod. If you look at the history of what eventually evolved into the one God of the Jews, you will note that the Jews originally had a variety of gods an goddesses that consolidated over centuries down to one - and even then, passages in what is called the Old Testament refer to there being many gods, but the admonition to the Jews is that they only worship one of them and not the others. Most religious text contains references to actual places and events; does that make any religious text that mentions actual places and events true? The stories of the Greek and Roman Gods often contain actual events and places. Many stories that we call myths do the same. What makes them true or false? Why do you believe one and not the other? What about people who are taught from childhood that one set of stories is true and all others false? What happens when they meet people who were raised the same way - but for different stories? That's how religious strife occurs.

As far as the laws applying only to one tribe - that is EXACTLY what the commandments are for. They are only for the Hebrews. Not for any other tribe, for the followers of the One God only. Re-read the texts that contain the commandments to the Hebrews. You will notice that there are many more than ten as well; the Book of the Covenant is conveniently forgotten by most Christians (because it is too difficult to follow all the laws, perhaps?).

The god of the OT also, on occasion, commanded the deaths of all those who were not his follwers. He was just as barbarous, at times, as any other culture's deities.

So, next time you come on with your little "the Bible is provable" and "Christianity is the only good religion" routine, you might want to study your own religion's history a little more.

And, by the way, I am not atheist. Just in case you were wondering, I do indeed have a faith, which is a personal thing for me. I have spent 4 decades actively seeking and researching what I believe and why, after a childhood of following a religion because "that's what we believe". I became an adult and asked "why", and haven't stopped asking.

simon templar| 4.2.11 @ 12:26AM

There is no - I repeat no - verifiable physical or written proof that Jesus existed as a single person - let alone his being a demigod.
MB,
Yes. There is. Both the writings of Roman and Jewish historians confirm his existence, his preaching, and his eventual conviction for claims to be a King and demi-god resulting in his state execution. Look it up. This leaves me suspect that you actually do no nothing of what you are talking about other than the PC left wing crap you most likely picked up on the internet.

Tony in Central PA| 4.2.11 @ 9:32PM

Its sounds like you already know the answers you want to your questions, you just haven't been able to verify them.

DRed| 3.31.11 @ 5:50PM

Isn't the whole Lord, Liar or Lunatic question a false dilemma? (trilemma?) For example, maybe Jesus never said what the author of John thought he said.

simon templar| 4.2.11 @ 12:29AM

Oh, he said it....there is much historically accurate Jewish and Roman writing about His claims. So, your stuck picking one. Sorry.

John II| 3.31.11 @ 6:20PM

Were you addressing me, DReddie? Or Brian? Apparently the direct response mode on this site has pooped out.

DRed| 3.31.11 @ 6:28PM

Yes, it seems that way. It's going to lead to confusion when people here try to insult me.

In any event, John, I'd be happy to hear what you have to say about the trilemma.

Charles Stevens| 3.31.11 @ 7:20PM

The self-centered say there is no God... they insist that unless & until they can declare it to be real and/or recognizable by them, nothing truly exists. This amounts to supreme selfishness, I.e, unless I say so, it doesn't matter. In addition, they believe they are espousing something that only the ignorant fail to recognize, so in their attempt to claim some higher intellectual plane of existence, they are again displaying supreme arrogance.

Those in the West who argue against 'religion' are usually leftists actually expressing a thinly disguised contempt for and hatred of Christianity. The quoted screed cited in the article is typical, filled with the usual banal tropes. Instead of attempting to address real issues, it puts up superficial strawmen against which to launch its fact-free assertions.

Christianity is not just myths and legends, it is based on historical fact. But more importantly, Christianity says there is something intrinsic to life which is more than just some trivialized fantasy, it is a sense of something greater than ourselves lying at the essential core of externally perceived reality.

Christianity consists of recognizing something ineffable and intrinsic, not just the extrinsic surface that our senses tell us. That recognition is called faith. Thus it says that, although we are important, we are not the be-all and the end-all. Even so, God does not control our lives. Instead He gives us independent free will, to come to Him or not as we choose. The Ten Commandments are just a raw external form... they represent the elegant underlying laws of God's Creation. When we choose to come to Him freely, it is not in the sense of an ensnaring slavery to the maw of some uncaring deity, but instead a sense of freedom by our use of newly perceived rules of creation that unfold as we continue to mature spiritually under His guidance.

Christianity has given us our principles of thought and existence. The sense of justice and equality of all men before God is at the core of Western civilizations' sense of individual liberty and unalienable rights. Christianity was also instrumental in giving us empirical science, since our sense of reality means that God's laws are built into His creation, and we can discover them in order to optimize but not perfect our existence here on earth (contrast this with Islam's view of allah constantly recreating the world each instant, so that in one instant it is one thing, and the next instant it could be arbitrarily entirely different).

Since the leftist mindset sees only the superficial, that is also the only thing they are able to offer in their tiresome assault on Christianity.

John II| 3.31.11 @ 7:26PM

Oh. Well, in that case, my answer is no--it's not a false dilemma. Properly framed (unlike the casual way I framed it), it's a valid alternative syllogism.

In other words, it's an argument, not a demonstration. Your tentative objection is framed in a way that suggests to my illative sense (Newman's term), so to speak, that you might not be amenable even to a demonstration if it were available. I'm thinking of your term "the author of John," which you can't use without assuming (petitio principii, if you want to toss around the terms of informal logic) that someone other than the Apostle John wrote the fourth gospel.

That assumption has not been demonstrated at all, and probably can't be. I believe it can only be argued--and the arguments I'm familiar with are lame when measured against the counterarguments. The preponderance of available evidence plus tradition and careful reflection add up to the highly probable conclusion that, well, John the Apostle is the author of John.

But I wonder--and this isn't an insult; it's the consequence of an observation: your language--whether the skepticism rippling through your expression "the author of John" is perhaps selective. In the manner, say, of the selective indignation practiced by Lefty ideologues when they fume over an instance of police brutality and don't even blink at brutality of an infinitely greater and systematic character as practiced by union thugs.

No--it's a valid argument, not a false dilemma. Dilemmas can only be established as false by securing missed alternatives, not by speculating about them.

But it's only an argument. If the truth of the Christian thing could be established by demonstration in the manner of, say, elaborating a geometric proposition, or reading a gas meter, then it would no longer be the Christian thing--which is about all reality, including the whole human thing, of which the discursive reason is only a part.

Faith precedes reason, as suggested by your faith in a selective skepticism.

And now back to "King of Kings" (1927), the best Jesus-flick of them all. Probably because it's a silent flick, which preserves the universality of the story.

PCP Smoker| 3.31.11 @ 8:09PM

Alive and well in the Midwest. Fuck those in NY and California.

Faithful| 3.31.11 @ 9:17PM

"Or do you so intensely despise the Papacy and Catholicism that it blinds you to common Christianity?"

Correctly worded it should read:

The Papacy and Catholicism blinds you to Christianity.

"And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:4.

Kingofthenet| 3.31.11 @ 9:18PM

Charles Stevens, are you for real? "The self-centered say there is no God... they insist that unless & until they can declare it to be real and/or recognizable by them, nothing truly exists. This amounts to supreme selfishness" Really now? it IS your right to believe in FANTASY, but you don't have the right to say people who don't, are 'selfish'. Am I selfish for not believing in Big Foot, Space Aliens coming to earth? When YOU and your ilk make EXTRAORDINARY claims, you BETTER be prepared to back that up with EXTRAORDINARY Proof. Christianity is NOT based on 'Historical fact", in fact MOST of the major players can't be independently verified to have EVER actually lived. Look i understand you want MORE to life than Born/Die that's it, but WANTING something doesn't make it so. I suggest you do whatever good you want in the here and now, you won't be getting a second chance ANYWHERE else.

believer| 3.31.11 @ 9:21PM

Minnisota Broad- I dont know where you get your information but the Jews did not originally have many gods, Abraham was the first Jew or Hebrew and he believed in only one God. His parents were from Ur of the Chaldees but Abraham left his fathers home and thru his son Issac started the Hebrew race. If you cant get the beginning right how are we supposed to believe anything you say?

Minnesota Broad| 4.1.11 @ 3:59PM

See, that's only if you use the bible as a history book. It's not. From other historical sources, we find that, in the Caananite pantheon, from which Judaism broke away, Yahweh was the son of El, sometimes mentioned as Baal, and his wife was Asherah. A few thousand years, and a lot of wars, later the breakaway followers of Yahweh had developed a separate mythology, and eliminated the wife - but it was still the same Yahweh.

Yechiel Shlipshon| 4.3.11 @ 8:25AM

M.B.
Good article. Everyone up there is having a son!
I still have one item that keeps Judaism unique; G-d spoke to us from Mt. Sinai.
Here, recorded in what we accept is sacred text, is the witnessing of three million people that He was heard. (The first two Commandments.)
Religion seems to have its own built in motivation; more religious people are born and ect. But, a warning; if the Abrahamic faiths are on their way out, what is left?
Yechiel

Frisbee| 3.31.11 @ 9:47PM

Great article and many great comments. My favorite is D Singh's:
"If religion is on the way out; then a secular totalitarianism must be on the way in."

Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it. There are way too many de-facto Nazi's (Planned Parenthood) and Communists (ACLU) workign freely in America.

Frisbee| 3.31.11 @ 9:50PM

Oh, and I sure like Charles Stevens too.

CalMark| 3.31.11 @ 10:52PM

@Faithful: "The Papacy and Catholicism blinds you to Christianity."

So hate makes YOU a good Christian.

Someday, you'll have a nasty ol' surprise when you might find out that saying some words and calling yourself "Saved" isn't nearly enough to save a soul full of hate.

Bob Grant| 3.31.11 @ 11:07PM

It's true, religion has been on the way out for a long time and is the number one reason why our country is facing an irreversible decline.

From legislators encouraging its citizenry to adopt an even more destructive entitlement mentality, e.g., Fannie May/Freddie Mac "I am entitled to take out a mortgage knowing full well I don't have the means or intention to repay it", to an immoral monetary policy, i.e. the excessive printing of money.

The business world doesn't help when they engage in crony capitalism for the benefit of a few people in their respective companies.

Need I say more about our popular culture that hasn't already been said a thousand times.

The constant and obsessive game of keeping up with the Joneses.

We are to a point in our country where the few who are not working the system to their favor are considered weak, chumps, or just not smart.

This all boils down to a lack of morality, which is rooted in the tenets of the Bible and the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Faithful| 4.1.11 @ 12:21AM

CalMark,
Just who is hating whom?

"Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you [from their company], and shall reproach [you], and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake." Lk. 6:22.

"For [there is] one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 2 Tim. 2:5 & 6.

I forgive you for accusing me of hatred.

CalMark| 4.1.11 @ 1:21AM

@Faithful:

You claim that being Catholic and Christian is incompatible. That is bigotry: that is hate.

Endless cherry-picked quotations are the refuge of zealots and schemers. It is an attempt to mask lack of substance by volume of words.

Catholics don't condemn other Christians for their faith. It's called tolerance.

On that note, here's a quote especially applicable to someone who consigns to Hell everyone (a billion-plus worldwide) who follow a Biblical religion that teaches salvation through good works (which includes praying for bigots):

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18

Faithful| 4.1.11 @ 8:03PM

You're a bigot against God as long as you reject what the Bible actually says, and that is what Catholicism does, and always has done.

Salvation comes through Jesus Christ~ not the Catholic Religion, not a Priest, not a Nun, nor any other human being. Only Jesus has the power to save anyone. They also falsely teach that God's Grace is given through the church which is a BLATANT LIE.

There are hundreds of lies that they teach~ all un- biblical. In order to call yourself a Christian you MUST go according to the words of Christ~ not the words of any Religion, including Catholicism.

If you read the Bible you would know all of this, but you reject it. You'd also know that God hates Religion, that is, if you actually read the Bible. He hates solemn assembly, the burning of incense, and the like. He also hates liars whose consciences are seared preaching false doctrine such as Salvation by works which Catholicism teaches.

If you choose to believe the many lies that this false Religion teaches then that's your "choice", but it isn't of God.

And Catholics always falsely accuse Christians of cherry picking God's words, because they don't want to hear them. And your Religion has taught you (wrongly) that you aren't even supposed to quote Scripture, which completely goes against God's own words which say:

"All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.." 2 Tim. 3:16.

"He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me." Jn. 14:24.

Who's sayings do you keep?

Tony in Central PA| 4.2.11 @ 10:04PM

My advice to you, faithful, is that if you are going to condemn anybody you'd better know what you're talking about. Its obvious you don't. Your biggest whopper was the assertion about Catholics not quoting Scripture. Do you really believe this ?
My guess is that you have never attended a Mass, probably know few Catholics and probably learned all of what you know about Catholicism from somebody who very much hates Catholics.
Fortunately, the Catholic Church takes the trouble to place all of its teachings in a compendium called the Catechism. Its available in many bookstores. Buy one for research purposes to bolster your assertions if you plan to continue as you have. Although you may find the numerous Scriptural references on every page a bit disconcerting.

As far as " salvation by works " this is not what the Church teaches. The Church teaches salvation by faith through grace. But what really constitutes faith ? Martin Luther once decribed it as a feeling. No thanks. Somebody a lot higher up had a different take on the subject :
" Then the righteous will answer him, ' Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink ? When did we se you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you ? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you ? '
The King will reply, ' I teel you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me '.
Matt 25: 37 - 40

Faithful| 4.4.11 @ 11:22AM

I don't have to condemn anyone~ God's words as written in the Bible already condemn false Religion.

And I know what the Catholic church teaches quite well. I still have a horrible little Catholic Catechism booklet from when I was a child and was forced to attend the cold hearted catechism classes where things about God were taught b rote. In it it states that Salvation is through the church, not through Jesus. It also says many other completely un-biblical things. I can scan it and post it all here if you wish. Such as the Priests as the power to forgive sins, another lie.

The Catholic church sets itself up as God, with the worshipping of the Pope and treating him like God, bowing to and kissing his ring. This is so against what God teaches in the Bible. And now he says that God May have "evolved" from something other than what God teaches in the Bible~ that God created man from the GROUND and formed him into a man and breathed into him the breath of life.

It seems to me that you choose to believe in a false Religion with false teachings and do not care an iota to look at what the Bible says about all of it. The Bible says there is no praying to the dead, no bowing before man or statues, no praying by rote, no solemn assembly and burning of incense, no restriction of what food to eat, no infant baptism, and I could go on. These are all AGAINST God's own teachings as found in the Bible.

Catholicism has created its own God and in fact makes itself God. It's just the truth, and I'm for the Truth.

Faithful| 4.4.11 @ 11:24AM

Sorry, above should have said "Man may have "evolved", not God may have evolved.

Faithful| 4.4.11 @ 11:33AM

"For by Grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8 & 9.

You got it backwards. And so does the church. You cannot be saved by faith, as it is clearly written in the verse I just quoted. There is no such thing as Pennance in the Bible, no such thing as Sacraments in the Bible, it is all fraudulent. If the Bible says we and saved by Grace and not by works or even faith, then why does the church teach that? Saying prayers by rote and repeating them many times as directed by a Priest is completely against Scripture.

What I say is the truth, and I am for the Truth.

Tony in Central PA| 4.4.11 @ 9:01PM

Faithful if what you are saying is true, then you were very poorly catechized. I hardly know where to begin. But maybe you can answer some questions that relate to sola scriptura, because that appears to be something you believe.
- When did the Church " go bad " ? Recall that our Bible did not have its Canon completed until early in the fifth century.
- When Jesus ascended into heaven after the Resurrection, did He leave the Apostles with a Bible or a Church ?
- Who would provide a more accurate representation of the faith of the Apostles, those who learned directly from them or their immediate students or Protestants fifteen hundred years later ?

Faithful| 4.1.11 @ 8:35PM

"Endless cherry-picked quotations are the refuge of zealots and schemers. It is an attempt to mask lack of substance by volume of words.

Is that what you call the words of God? Cherry picked quotations?

And Christians that quote them are schemers and zealots? This shows that you are not a man of the Spirit. And this is the difference between Catholicism and Christianity. Christians (those born of, or regenerated from above see Jn. 3:3), actually speak in Scriptures~ always. We stand on His own words. If you were a Christian you would not object to or find fault with it, yet in your using of His words you condemn me for standing on His words.

Do you not know what the Bible (God's own words breathed by men) says?

"God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Jn. 4:24.

Salvation is through Jesus Christ, not through any church.

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

Marc Jeric| 4.1.11 @ 1:32AM

This former refugee from a communist hell (an agnostic catholic) has found one satisfaction in all the blubberings of our "inetellectual elite". Once the communists led by Abu Hussein al-Nairobi (or in whatever Kenyan hellhole that marxist Muslim was born) take over this country completely, theu will do two things first:
1) confiscate all private property, and I mean all;
2) execute all members of our "intellectual elites", including professors of marxism (updated) and the commentators of ABC, CBS, NBC, MANBC, CNN, NY Times, Washington Post...
That is personal experience talking!

bob| 4.1.11 @ 1:51AM

Hilarious. These people who believe religion is declining have never been outside a few places in the western world it seems. I mean tell the Turks that 'religion is declining', they'll respond, 'if only!'

Russell | 4.1.11 @ 1:53AM

After years of suffering Fabrizio's reptilian pieties, all one can say about the old time religion of TAS is :

Si monumentum requiris, circumspice

Dee See| 4.1.11 @ 7:04AM

---We don't know about that.

Seems the cult of 'Free Trade'/Globalism and
EUGENICS are heaping greater resources,
greater devotion, more psychopathic commitment and REAL human sacrifice than
any religion in history A.D. or B.C..

"When an ideal ----ANY ideal, grasps the
levers of REAL power ---you get PURE EVIL."
D H Lawrence
Essays
1920

AGAIN, for the reality challenged

Globalism and EUGENICS (scientific dictatorship in the pursuit of human perfection)
are, indisputably, IDEALS.

Jeremiah| 4.1.11 @ 10:40AM

Ah, well, Minnesota Broad, I majored in history at one of the nation's premier universites, have written and been published on the matter, and have reviewed texts for others who write on history, ancient and otherwise.

First of all, you have obviously never heard of Josephus, the prolific Jewish historian. Nor have you heard of many of the other source documents coming out of the Middle Easst and Rome. Otherwise you would not utter the ignorant nonsense that there is no evidence that a physical person named "Jesus" ever existed.

Second, like so many intellectual pretenders these days, you make a straw man to knock down. I did not say that history can prove the Bible. Rather, I said that the texts of both the Old and New Testaments have proven to be remarkably reliable source documents from antiquity. Now perhaps you just did not understand what that means, but if so, that just demonstrates you do not understand how historians must piece together ancient history - from various source documents, archeological finds, etc.

You are certainly free to believe whatever you wish - and just because someone is more learned on these matters does not necessarily mean their judgment is more acute or accurate. But if you are going to play at being the "intellectual superior" on this site, you better actually have a little more learning and a little less attitude. Your posturing may impress the unlettered, but in it you betray that you are working from conventional contemporary fads, not actual study and knowledge.

Minnesota Broad| 4.1.11 @ 4:20PM

My first post was merely my own observations of the situation. You were the first to make a snide comment (your closing paragaraph), which I echoed. And you are the one posturing, claiming degrees and letters that cannot be proven in an "anonymous" forum - there's no way to prove you are who you claim to be, or what your credentials might actually be. "Premier institution" and "published" don't mean the same things they used to.

BTW - you consider Josephus to be authentic. I do not. Difference of opinion.

Minnesota Broad| 4.1.11 @ 4:46PM

One more thing - you betray your own failings, as do many "conservative intellectuals" or "Christian intellectuals", by attacking the writer, rather than what is written. You describe yourself like a peacock, not an owl. I know well how historians "piece things together". I also know that not all pieces are authentic, and many with an agenda to push will allow it to color their views on what is authentic, what is partially authentic, and was has no authenticity, or might be a forgery.

simon templar| 4.2.11 @ 12:37AM

MB writes, "BTW - you consider Josephus to be authentic. I do not..."

Look jackass, why even blog here? If everything is subject to your postmodern thinking and that all OPINONS are somehow legitimate and equal, then go write your own history of the world and shut up. You don't think Josephus to be authentic? Well, thousands of Real frig'n historians with actual degrees over centuries disagree with you snot.

Jacob| 4.1.11 @ 12:25PM

Everyone who comes on and says religion is crap but doesn't defend anything...I'd like to quote Jack Black from Anchor Man (sorry I hope quoting a secular movie isn't a sign of the apocalypse), "WHAT DO YOU LOVE?!?"

If you're gonna dump all over and try to ruin my thing (the Catholic Church) then you better tell me what your thing is and defend it or you're a coward!

Why aren't there ever headline articles in the New York Times vilifying secular America and eagerly predicting its demise because public school teachers always rape/molest children?
Are the victims of pedophile priests more important than the victims of pedophile public school teachers? Is it really the Pope's or the Secretary of Education's direct responsibility?

And I would agree..the fact that truly intelegent conversation is absolutely dominated by people who take religion seriously suggests to me that it's not quite as dead as leftist pagans like to pretend.

Seek| 4.1.11 @ 2:37PM

So long as people have the right to believe, and disbelieve, as they wish, I could care less which God(s) other people choose to follow. Separation of church and state is a bedrock principle of this country and ought to be among countries. Yes, I know -- the phrase doesn't appear in the Constitution. Clever riposte: I don't see the words "God" or "Jesus" anywhere in there either.

CalMark| 4.1.11 @ 4:47PM

There is no such thing as "separation of church and state." There is only a prohibition of establishing an "Official Religion of the United States," like the Church of England.

Unless, of course, it's militant atheism or Sharia-based Islam. Leftist judges keep inventing new rules to persecute Biblically-based religions in this country, while finding new ways to broaden the "rights" of atheism and Islam.

Dee See| 4.1.11 @ 11:51PM

ADDENDUM

"---EUGENICS (i.e. Globalism) scientific
dictatorship in pursuit of human perfection"
----AND efficiency.

Efficiency really is a factory principle.

The 'Factory Principle' lies at the heart of
so much of what's deliberately going wrong.

The Factory Principle represents the
'mystery at neuters. One force massively, relentlessly neutralizing
another' ---D H Lawrence 1920.

Efficiency is NOT in any sense a worthy
human ideal.

Efficiency was and is central to the operation
of not only factories ----but gulags and concentration camps.

"True culture celebrates creation and
promotes fertility. False culture celebrates
production and possession and creates a
living human hell."
----where did we read that?

john dubose| 4.2.11 @ 11:01PM

Religion exists because the great majority of humans NEED to believe that there is a great stabilizing personal entity looking after their interest and lives. The NEED causes minds to generate images of God. That is all OK. It is perfectly reasonable to figure that God made us to need him.

But let us let God do his own job. Let us simply try to establish justice and decency in the relationships we have with one another. When a religious fanatic of any stripe claims the right to kill someone for not believing the right way, he is admitting that he does not think God is big enough to do it himself. In effect, this is trying to take over for God. It is internally inconsistent thus dumb and probably a sin.

Yechiel Shlipshon| 4.3.11 @ 8:15AM

If religion was on the way out, then the conversion rate would decline. But people in even Chine are converting to all of the Abramic faiths. Judaism may end up having a miority of members wo are of Semitic origin by the next century.
Change is a part of life. Mistaking change for obscurity is the result of not comprehinding the change, thus mistaking the diminished "old" for reduction in the body, when it is just, shall we say, changing its' clothes.
On the other hand; lazy persons want no responsibility. Religion requires at least the acceptance that there is a need for me to be responsible. Are the proponates of the dimise of religion that irresponsible?
Yechiel

Richard Baker| 4.3.11 @ 11:08AM

The atheists and the pagans can only hope. In Romans there is the line about worshiping the Creation instead of the Creator. Exactly what these folks are doing as they try to set themselves up as gods. The Day of Judgement will be interesting, I'm thinking.

James| 4.7.11 @ 10:09PM

Lisa,
re:"Of course, we can't believe in something that billions of people have held sacred for thousands of years, but utter credence and faith must be invested in computer modules; "

The student didn't say what you write regarding 'faith', and frankly, millions of people have held any number of stupid ideas as sacred over the centuries including hundreds of Gods.

Creative Recreation| 8.10.11 @ 11:07PM

is good