People who call themselves "Christian" make up the largest group of religionists (~2.3 billion).Second to that are those who call themselves followers of Mohammed who is said to have founded "Islam" (~1.7 billion).
Nevertheless, a very tiny religion by comparison, Judaism, (~15 million), controls the city where they all focus their religious sentiments: Jerusalem (a.k.a. Ground Zero in this post).
And those sentiments are hard core:
Israel's leader on Sunday dismissed a call from a key government partner to share the holy city of Jerusalem with the Palestinians, a reminder of the obstacles facing already troubled peacemaking efforts.(Raw Story). I suppose it is more accurate to say that a tiny minority of a tiny religious minority controls the dialogue at Ground Zero, and thereby the prospects for peace or war.
Conflicting claims to east Jerusalem lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The dispute over the area, home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, has derailed past peace talks and spilled into violence. Palestinians claim the sector as the capital of their future state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaffirmation of his intention to hold on to east Jerusalem drew criticism from the Palestinians and was likely to increase friction with the Americans. The White House Mideast envoy is scheduled to arrive this week in another attempt to push peace efforts forward.
That is so Washington, and so dysfunctional in the sense that both nations call themselves democratic, but invade other sovereign nations to bring "democracy" to them.
The Ground Zero, at least in the middle east, has heart strings that reach around the globe, so, should the hatred and warmongering persis
t and increase by feverish political rhetoric masking an under-the-covers religious fervour, there is a broader danger which implicates more than the mid east alone.The secular Oilah Akbar religion wafting over, above, under, and through the states of oil around Ground Zero, absolutely armed to the nuclear teeth, add to the weighty danger lurking in those crude religious surroundings.
When it comes top religion I subscribe to the Sam Harris school of thought:
ReplyDeleteHarris's basic message is that the time has come to freely question the idea of religious faith.[13]p. 13–15 He feels that the survival of civilization is in danger because of a taboo against questioning religious beliefs. Harris describes in detail Islam and Christianity, characterizing them as much more dangerous than, say, Jainism. He also believes that a "conversational taboo" exists against criticizing religion, and that this taboo impedes progress toward more enlightened approaches to spirituality and ethics.
While often defined as an atheist, Harris asserts that the term is not necessary. His position is that "atheism" is not a worldview or a philosophy, but the "destruction of bad ideas." He states that religion is especially rife with bad ideas, calling it "one of the most perverse misuses of intelligence we have ever devised."[14] He compares modern religious beliefs to the myths of the Ancient Greeks, which were once accepted as fact but which are obsolete today. In a January 2007 interview with PBS, Harris said, "We don't have a word for not believing in Zeus, which is to say we are all atheists in respect to Zeus. And we don't have a word for not being an astrologer." He goes on to say that the term will be retired only when "we all just achieve a level of intellectual honesty where we are no longer going to pretend to be certain about things we are not certain about."[15]
Religion is more often than not just a cover for dull people to use to explain things they can't explain otherwise, as in "it was God's will, and who are we to question that?"
With that in mind, expect a major revival in religious fundamentalism once TSHTF here in the US. Religion's always the last refuge for desperate people in hard times. Look for Palin and Huckabee both to ring them chimes loud and long in 2012. That might even be the GOP or TBag ticket right there.
The Oilah Akbar religion is an equal opportunity religion, and competes quite well with the others.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since so many are part of it but do not realize it.
Yes! The opening salvo in the undoing of the obamanation called healthcare reform!
ReplyDeleteJudge Voids Key Element of Obama Health Care Law
In a 42-page opinion issued in Richmond, Va., Judge Hudson wrote that the law’s central requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance exceeds the regulatory authority granted to Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The insurance mandate is central to the law’s mission of covering more than 30 million uninsured because insurers argue that only by requiring healthy people to have policies can they afford to treat those with expensive chronic conditions.
The insurance mandate was the first clue that NoBama was an imposter, and we've had nothing but confirmation since. The Repubes have vowed to, I believe that they will, and they absolutely should overturn this whole damn abortion of a bill and start over. Yeah, that will mean healthcare doesn't get fixed. SO BE IT!
It's time to admit that doing NOTHING when the only thing you can get done is EVEN WORSE than the status quo is the BEST OF ALL OPTIONS. NoBama would have us walking away with crumbs when HE had all the bargaining power to make REAL, MEANINGFUL CHANGE, BUT DID NOT USE IT WHEN HE HAD IT!
His legacy will be shame and ridicule, both rightly deserved. If W lived up to fully deserved low expectations, then Obama has certainly lived down from very high ones. I would have bet money just two years ago that W would be remembered as the worst president in US history BY FAR. Now I know better. NoBama's not even running in the same race as all the rest.
"Yes! The opening salvo in the undoing of the obamanation called healthcare reform!"
ReplyDeleteNot really.
Two other federal courts, one in the 6th Circuit, the other in Virginia like this one, ruled the opposite. (2-1 score so far in favor of Obama).
Another case is pending in Florida, i.e., no decision yet. The score will be 3-1 or 2-2 depending on how the Florida court rules.
The Supreme Five, with the same biased ideology that decided Bush v Gore, will be the final deciders.
What I can't understand is these states rights cases where the Attorney Generals of the states are saying the feds can't impose insurance on others.
These same states throw people in jail, fine them, and/or take away driving privileges if their citizens don't purchase insurance before driving.
Thus, this is more republican hypocrisy.
They see things in black and white simplicity. Einstein said "make things as simple as possible, but no simpler".
These black & white simpletons can't always pick which one is white and which one is black in a line up.
Funky.