Buffetting the Gates of Humanity? Or Opening the Gates to the Buffet?

The union of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, which places over $70 billion in the hands of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is astounding and should be fascinating to watch over the next decades. It is indeed an interesting time to be alive, as these two Wall Street wizards and warlords have more firepower than practically any other individuals on the planet - and they mean to use it, in an apparently beneficent and beneficial manner.

This mega-merger has some factions up in arms, particularly "pro-lifers," who are howling that the alliance "may spell doom for the families of the developing world" - a remark that shows exactly what power the Buffett-Gates folks wield. Some of the money made by Buffett and Gates, you see, has been used to promote family planning as one plank of a multi-planked platform attempting to better life on Earth. Such a remark, however, appears libelous, as it is well known that the Gateses are extremely conscientious about the Third World and its problems of poverty and mortality. The fact that so much money is in the Gateses' hands can only benefit the poorest segment of the world's population, not hurt it. The same Catholic spokesperson who made that "doom" remark also compared Warren Buffett to the heinous Nazi scientist Josef Mengele, because of the former's family planning activities. Such hyperbole seems completely uncalled for but is typical of the self-righteous.

Indeed, what about the Catholic Church's insidious deeds worldwide for centuries? It is always mystifying how those who mindlessly follow and, therefore, support the structure of the Catholic Church can suppose themselves "holier than thou." It was not all that long ago that Catholic armies and inquisitors were rampaging around the globe, slaughtering at will and with the blessing of the Church's representatives. Past history, you say? Do murderers go free because they claim their crimes are "past history?" Is it only organizations or national leaders that are absolved of such sins? Should the Nazi Party, for example, be forgiven, because its crimes are "past history?" Or Cambodia's Pol Pot? Why does the Catholic Church get let off the hook so easily? Because it is ostensibly a religious institution? So, as long as we invoke religion, can we murder and pillage as we like? What kind of religion is this? Mankind's religion, obviously, as such violent and self-serving behavior "in the name of God" has been rampant around the globe for millennia.

Another so-called pro-lifer ("pro-lifers" tend to favor the death penalty - go figure) makes the following remarks regarding Buffett-Gates: "Some of the wealthiest men in the world descend like avenging angels on the populations of the developing world... They seek to decimate their numbers, to foist upon vulnerable people abortion, sterilization and contraception."

If things go as planned, Warren Buffett's billions will be largely in the hands of Bill and Melinda Gates. If there's evidence that the Gateses are out to destroy humanity, I would like to see it before passing such a harsh judgment on them. Despite all the complaining of the past about Bill Gates, the fact is that his business endeavors have significantly improved the lives of most people I know, including me. I would in all probability not be sitting here typing this blog if it weren't for Bill Gates, and you in all probability would not be reading it.

While we listen to the heated rhetoric from evident hypocrites, the Gateses strike me as very genuine in their desires to improve life in general on planet Earth. Power to them, as they - and we - have our work cut out for us.

Pro-lifers against Buffett-Gates alliance

Warren Buffett's new philanthropic alliance with fellow billionaire Bill Gates won widespread praise this week, but anti-abortion activists did not join in, instead assailing the two donors for their longtime support of Planned Parenthood and international birth-control programs.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to which Buffett has pledged the bulk of his $44-billion fortune, devotes the vast majority of its funding to combating disease and poverty in developing countries. Less than 1 percent has gone to Planned Parenthood over the years.

"'The merger of Gates and Buffett may spell doom for the families of the developing world,' said the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, a Roman Catholic priest who is president of Human Life International.

Referring to Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi death camp doctor, Euteneuer said Buffett 'will be known as the Dr. Mengele of philanthropy unless he repents.'"

This Stinkin' Earth

From as early as I can recall, I have always had a love for the Earth. The trees and animals, and nature in general, have often brought me great joy and comfort. Possibly the first and foremost of causes in my life has been the environment. My family was recycling back in the 60's; my mother also used biodegradable laundry products "way back then." I was raised to believe this type of responsibility was normal and common. I was shocked, therefore, to discover that the largest city in the world, New York, where I lived for three years in my young adulthood, had no organized recycling programs and that very few people other than dumpster-divers looking for bottles and cans recycled anything at all.

One of the pivotal moments in my environmental "career" came when I was working in a law firm in the early 1990's. While in the copy room in this office, I got involved in a fracas with a large and aggressive male who had overheard me making comments about the lack of recycling of the tons of paper being tossed out in such firms. When he heard my comment about "Mother Earth," he flew into a rage, declaring himself a Christian and saying, "I'm not born of this stinkin' Earth." Needless to say, I was taken aback, but this moment seared itself in my memory, and I began to closely analyze the connection between the degradation of the planet and fanatic religious belief.

It became clear to me that any ideology which teaches that it is proper and righteous to spit on one's own home is false, erroneous, mean, rotten and dangerous. And, believe me, at that point in history such an attrocious attitude defined religion and, in the U.S., Christianity in particular. In the past few years a relative handful of conscientious people who label themselves Christian has arisen to express concern about the planet we all live on, but many still remain in the "Rapture" frame of mind that not only cares not a fig for the earth but that actually practices studied contempt for our world.

Let me provide yet another example that many of you may have also experienced. A friend has written a message entitled "Global Warming & the Bible," in which he relates the following experience:

About a half dozen family members met yesterday for 'fathers day' dinner. I asked my uncle (a great sportsman & country singer) about the recent Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth" & asked him if he noticed anything different about the environment that he fishes & hunts in on this topic. None of us have seen to movie yet because it isn't playing near us.

Anyway my uncle has never researched this topic & is trying to tell me this is all a fraud. My uncle said last night that a vulcano pumps out more CO2 than all of our vehicles put together. "So what's the problem?" he says. He claims, "there's nothing we can do about it & anything we do try to do won't make the slightest difference.
Vehicles are not the cause of it". He continues, "the end is in the bible anyway, it's time for the lord to come & you better be ready. Are you ready" he says to me.

"READY?" I replied, "Oh yeah, I'm ready & wish he'd get some fire under his feet & hurry up" (probably not even realizing that I am now an ATHEIST!!!)

My uncle recently recovered from cancer just 2-3 months ago. Obviously, it was a miracle & Jesus did it. He knows this, so it is a fact. Well, anyway it sounds like he's getting his [environmental] information from church, doesn't it? He has become a bible thumper for sure.

I am uncomfortable taking issue with my uncle under his recent circumstances & the fact that we've lost about half a dozen family members in the last 2 years including my own father, with a few more probably not far off now.

I too have encountered this destructive and self-serving attitude in "elders" who, facing their own impending death, evidently find comfort in the impending destruction of all life as we know it as well. In most cases, it is likely not very useful for those of us concerned to create discord within our families by openly challenging or contradicting such an attitude. We may "go along to get along," and such polite behavior may set an example.

Nevertheless, it may also be helpful to voice gently but firmly one's own opinion of self- and earth-preservation, based on common decency if nothing else, as the younger generation undoubtedly would appreciate it. In my own experience, while the older generation in general has gotten its feathers ruffled by my opinions, the younger people have thanked me in private and years later for stating my case. I strongly believe that the young ones are vastly relieved to hear a difference of opinion as to whether or not the earth is expendable in "God's eyes" or in our own. After all, these youngters will be living here when their self-defeating elders are long gone, and they are also doubtlessly looking forward to families of their own who will likewise appreciate any and all efforts at preserving and improving life on Earth. When one of my cousins, for example, became an adult, he thanked me for including him as an 11-year-old in my "adult" conversations. Moreover, some of the older people may also be relieved by your gently-but-firmly voiced opinions as to responsible care of the planet. As an aside but an example of how it is wise to give the benefit of doubt to older people, one of my most cherished memories is from an elderly couple who, after reading my book The Christ Conspiracy, thanked me profusely for helping them from themselves from the shame and guilt associated with religious beliefs, such that they could now die in peace.

Think about it. This planet is not "this stinkin' Earth." It's our beloved one and only home. And, despite fervent and sincere hopes that we may be able one day to inhabit other planets, "one day" remains very far off, and this hope does not in any event justify the wanton and uncaring destruction of our beautiful home. We must, therefore, find a way not only to "get along" but also to thrive and prosper. Our children depend on it.

What is the Secret?

"I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy."

An affirmation to be said daily.

"Not only did I affirm it for myself, but for others that I knew needed it. I want to emphasize this point. Whatever you desire, affirm it for others and it will help you both. We reap what we sow. If we send thoughts of love and health, they return to us like bread cast upon the waters; but if we send out thoughts of fear, worry, jealousy, anger, hate, etc., we will reap the results in our own lives."

"I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy."

Say it. Believe it. Pass it along.

Excerpts from The Master Key System by Charles Haanel, the apparent basis for the TV show "What is the Secret?"

The Rise of the Conservative Liberal

Because I focus mainly on religion, it may appear that I do not often delve into the world of politics. However, I have for a long time been politically aware, and I do not see a sharp divide between religion and politics, as in the past the rulers of countries have frequently been both priests and kings. I come from a rather politically active background, in fact, as my blessed mother was for many years a town selectman and then a state legislator, while my father was the chairman of our town's board of education and taught psychology at a university. We were raised on causes, most of which I share with my mother, who was widely respected by people of all stripes and political parties, as she was extraordinarily fair and balanced on a wide variety of issues. On some issues she butted heads with fervent religionists, which may have been a seed from which my own fervor has sprung.

In any event, while my mother was an old-fashioned Republican - in other words, the classy kind of yesteryear, as opposed to the creepy kind of today - I first registered as an Independent, then a Republican and finally a Green. When I left our state, I was shocked to discover what "Republican" meant elsewhere. I won't even go into describing my early take on the major political parties, lest I be deemed an "elitist." I do not live like an elitist, nor was I raised in wealth. My comfort zone is solidly middle class, although that referred not to our family income but to the way we presented ourselves. We didn't hire people to make sure our homes appeared middle class; we did the work ourselves, and from a young age I spent many hours painting, wallpapering, sanding, stuccoing, shingling, refinishing furniture and so on. We did all this work on a shoestring budget over a period of many years until we lived in what seems to me in retrospect to be mansions. Obviously, my homes were not mansions, but they were really beautiful. The last one I lived in with my family was a Colonial begun in the early 18th century with four acres of rolling hills and woods, and several large barns that entertained us for years. We were surrounded by gorgeous, healthy nature, including numerous pets such as dogs, cats, chickens, goats, horses, squirrels, wild birds, hamsters, turtles and fish. Our house and yard were always filled with critters of some sort of another.

Anyway, I digress, but you get some idea of my childhood. It was not completely ideal, and there were some serious troubles, but in comparison to the horrors that pass for life all over this planet, it was pretty good. Like my mother, who had such a strong sense of civic duty, at times I attempted to improve life around me. At other times, I was a mess and a scalliwag. But I did receive strong political impetus, most of which could be termed "bleeding heart liberal," although it would also seem paradoxical. For example, my mother held human life as essentially sacred and was the founder of a couple of non-profit organizations designed to assist people who were "retarded and handicapped," as we called them back then, by providing them with skills training and other assistance. My mother also found merit in the concept of "good death" or euthanasia, per the dictionary definition of "a quiet, painless death." This position seems to be a paradox but is not when considered in depth. Naturally, even though such "death with dignity" is a longstanding tradition around the world, mom took heat for her stance, which was based in part at least on her long and close observation of suffering.

I too constantly find myself in a seemingly paradoxical position, which caused me to coin the term "Conservative Liberal," with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I am fervently pro-environment and even helped get the Green Party ballot status in California back in 1992. Yet, I am also against gun control for the most part. Not that I would encourage anyone to run around with a gun, and I don't believe that automatic weapons should be made readily available to the public. But I also know too well the history of the world, including the neverending tendency toward tyranny. I suppose if I were to consider myself politically aligned, it would be with the American "Founding Fathers," the original minutemen and militias, the heroes of the American Revolution, et al. I do not concur with them in everything, obviously, as we are nonetheless over two centuries apart. But, as a youth I concluded that the Founding Fathers - as I understood them from my schooling - were classy and highly respected individuals, and I wanted to emulate them, such that I did in fact go on to major in Classics, Greek Civilization, because many of them were thus educated. Indeed, that type of education was considered de rigeur back then. I am not otherwise particularly knowledgeable about the Founding Fathers, but my impression of Thomas Jefferson, for instance, is that he and I would likely see eye to eye on many subjects. The issue of slavery is, of course, a sticking point that doubtlessly would have made me nauseated as it does today, and it is certainly not my place to make any apologies for the FF's for that bizarre aberration, anymore than I can explain its presence in my beloved ancient Greece.

I am also pro-choice, with reservations, but I am not against capital punishment in clear-cut cases in which innocents have been murdered. I generally have no problem with a life sentence, but I can understand the rage and indignation that would find the death penalty satisfying. It is highly tempting to simply fry the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, et al, ad nauseam. I frankly find the stance of "Compassionate Conservatives" who fret about "the unborn" but who have no problem "pulling the switch" to be paradoxical if not hypocritical. So, it's okay to compel an unwanted and unloved person into this world, and when they grow up and commit crimes, then it's okay to kill them? Obviously, not everyone who is unloved or unwanted is going to become a criminal warranting the death penalty, but children who are loved and wanted generally do not grow up to become torturers and killers.

In any case, I do not in reality wear any label when it comes to politics, as I analyze one issue at a time. I attempt to weigh everything that comes into my scope. For instance, whereas once I may have thought that the idea of an "illegal alien" was preposterous, as no human being is "illegal," after many years witnessing the effects of what is clearly bad behavior, as opposed to desperation, in too many instances, I have moderated that position. Of course, no human being is illegal, but there must be social mores and common sense and decency. Anarchy may sound like fun to the youngsters but would we be able to function if everyone decided that they just didn't want to, say, stop at red lights? I've thought about that phenomenon. For all the scofflaws and criminals on this planet, few are ready to recklessly run red lights. Now, why is that? For self-preservation? Most of us do it, I would assume, because it's the right thing to do. Obeying traffic lights could serve as a metaphor for society as a whole.

I do not believe all laws are just and should be followed; for example, the draconian drug laws are frankly immoral. There are clearly victimless crimes that do not warrant a person's life being destroyed by being locked away in prison. In the case of immigration, however, I do believe that a legal process of entry is merited. I would love for the entire world to be so desirable as is the U.S., such that people didn't need to be flocking here for an improvement in their lives. So, perhaps instead of expecting the beautiful Lady Liberty to throw open her, ahem, arms, how about everybody attempting to improve the rest of the world?

There are many other planks in the Conservative Liberal platform.

"Illegal Immigration?"

Although I was already a supporter of less porous borders and greater enforcement of immigration laws, the logic of the following argument struck me enough to warrant posting it here. Obviously, as a longtime student and scholar of history, anthropology and archaeology, I am well aware of the "who got here first" argument, and naturally I find the patent genocide of "Indians" in America to be horrific. But the point could be argued endlessly along those lines: Are we sure the "Indians" were in America first? What about Kennewick man and other apparently very ancient non-Indian remains found in American soil? This displacement has happened the world over for many thousands of years. The Greeks, for example, have long occupied land that did not originally belong to them - does that mean that we can all go and illegally occupy Greece? Cool! I love Greece! No, we obviously cannot do that, unless we want to run afoul of the Greek legal system. Heck, weren't the Neanderthals in Europe first? I'm sure there are still some around - let's give it back to them!

So, is it only a question of how long people have occupied the land? As I say, this leads to an endless debate. We need to discuss this issue in context. If someone occupied your house before you, does that mean others still have the right to move in on you in the manner described below? The fact is that we have laws that allow for legal immigration. This is a very important issue, as the cost of illegal occupation in this country is staggering. Billions of dollars are siphoned out of our economy each year to be sent "back home," while billions more are spent on medical, welfare and schooling for illegal occupants. If you feel the same way, I encourage you to take action, such as passing these thoughts along to your political representatives.

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of "illegal immigration." This is an oxymoron. I hope none of you use it!

Certain people are angry that the U.S. might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.

Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house)."

According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family’s insurance plan and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he is also hard-working and honest, except for that "breaking in" part).

If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there.

It is only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I’m just trying to better myself. I'm hard-working and honest…um, except for…well, you know.

And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being "anti-housebreaker."

Coffee, Gnosticism and Me!

On Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 3PM PST/5MP CST/6PM EST, my interview with Miguel Connor debuted on Freethoughtmedia.com This is the first part of a two-part interview, the second part of which to air on June 18, 2006. Miguel has posted a clip of the interview on his Freethoughtmedia page.

This interview is more in depth than most of the past ones, because Miguel has a great deal of knowledge of the subject matter, so I was able to "cut loose," so to speak. (As much as one can "cut loose" with the subject matter, which encompasses numerous aspects of religion, mythology and Gnosticism. The entire interview may be heard at The Sun of All Fears. Please tune in!

Praise the Lord! Pass the Ammo!

What place for God in Europe?

Europe has been seeing a steady decline of church-going for much longer than is acknowledged. In my opinion, the easiest solution for the churches of Europe and the rest of the world would be to start teaching astrotheology, which, I maintain, is closer to the truth behind many religious concepts than what is being taught today in the so-called houses of worship. It is apparent that people would like to hear something different, beyond the tired nonsense about a man of a particular ethnicity being the God of the cosmos and dying for our sins 2,000 years ago. It seems that many Europeans have become too sophisticated for this patent malarkey. Perhaps they are currently accepting the Da Vinci code premise of Jesus being "a cool guy" who married Mary Magdalene and hung out in France living "La Vie Folle."

Not a bad start, but, again, enlightening the masses to the widespread veneration of natural forces such as the sun, moon, earth, planets, stars and constellations may just ignite their fervor for learning and life. In doing so, there is no need to insist that anyone share in this veneration or awe, but it would be beneficial for humankind to be aware of these ages-old astrotheological myths and rituals designed to impart knowledge about our world from one generation to another. As may be obvious, I find this profound apprehension of the world and cosmos to be fascinating and inspiring. In fact, the knowledge of the world's most extensive and longest-lived religious concepts is a major source of my own joie de vivre, and I do believe that many others would benefit mentally, emotionally and spiritually from being illuminated as to the significance of astrotheology. For those of us who find abhorrent the biased concepts of organized religion and therefore who do not attend any church, temple or synagogue, we may at last find community in just such an "International Church of Astrotheology."

What place for God in Europe?
By Peter Ford
Across Europe,the conflicting currents of secularism, Christianity, and Islam are compelling Europeans to wrestle with their values as never before. In this first installment of a three-part series, the Monitor examines the forces that are shaping European identity - and explores why the Continent is debating what role, if any, religion should play in public life...

The Christ Code: Stolen!

In my book Suns of God, which explores the ancient nature-worshipping and astrotheological roots of religion, I discuss the Greek religion and gods in detail, focusing on the religion and mysteries of Orpheus. The religion of Orphism was widespread throughout the Mediterranean for many centuries prior to the Christian era and was doubtlessly a very significant influence on Christianity, as verified by the important discovery in the news item below.

Orphism included wandering, proselytizing adherents who acted out plays that contained religious themes. Much of the Orphic religion and mysteries revolved around the Greek savior Dionysus, the son of God born of a virgin mother on December 25th long before the purported advent of Jesus Christ. Centuries prior to the Christian era, Dionysus's religion was spread by a group of missionaries in the very same area recorded in the New Testament as having been proselytized by Paul. One of Dionysus's epithets was "IES," which, with the Latin terminus "-us," becomes Iesus or Jesus. Thus, hundreds of years before the existence of Christianity and the alleged savior Jesus Christ, missionaries were traveling around the Mediterranean, spreading the "good news " of IES, the savior son of God born of a virgin on December 25th.

In The Paganism in Our Christianity, Christian apologist Sir Arthur Weigall describes the Dionysus myth:

"Dionysos, whose father, as in the Christian story, was 'God' but whose mother was a mortal woman [Semele], was represented in the East as a bearded young man of dignified appearance, who had not only taught mankind the use of the vine, but had also been a law-giver, promoting the arts of civilisation, preaching happiness, and encouraging peace. He, like Jesus, had suffered a violent death, and had descended into hell, but his resurrection and ascension then followed; and these were commemorated in his sacred rites. According to one legend, he had turned himself into a bull, and in this guise had been cut to pieces by his enemies; and according to another he had been transformed into a ram. His worshippers were wont to tear a bull or a goat to pieces and to devour the meat raw, thereby eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their god in a frenzied eucharist. Various animals were sacred to him, amongst which were the ram and the ass; and in regard to the latter there was a story that he had once ridden upon two asses and had afterwards caused them to become celestial constellations, in which legend we may perhaps see him as a solar god and may connect him with the zodiacal sign of Cancer, which, in the Babylonian zodiac, was the Ass and Foal, and which marked the zenith of the sun’s power and the beginning of its decline towards winter.

"...the connection of Jesus with Dionysos in men's minds is shown by the introduction into the Gospel story of the incident of the turning of water into wine at the marriage-feast of Cana..."

As Weigall outlines, the similarities between the Dionysus and Jesus myths include not only the torturous death and the resurrection but also the water-to-wine miracle, the Christian myth even keeping the same Pagan date for its celebration, January 6^th. That this "miracle" predates Christianity is proved by the ruins of the water-to-wine sluice used by Greek priests at Corinth at least four centuries before the common era. Indeed, correspondences between the Dionysian and Christian cults can be found in Paul's epistles to the Corinthians, which is appropriate since Corinth in specific was a locus for the Dionysian mysteries.

A relatively recent and exciting find of Europe's oldest "book," dating to the 4th century BCE, provides us with yet more concrete evidence of the fact that the "Christ Code," i.e., the gospel tale, is not an original, true story but was taken from older myths and rituals.

Ancient scroll may yield religious secrets

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer

ATHENS, Greece - A collection of charred scraps kept in a Greek museum's storerooms are all that remains of what archaeologists say is Europe's oldest surviving book — which may hold a key to understanding early monotheistic beliefs....

The scroll contains a philosophical treatise on a lost poem describing the birth of the gods and other beliefs focusing on Orpheus, the mythical musician who visited the underworld to reclaim his dead love and enjoyed a strong cult following in the ancient world.

The Orpheus cult raised the notion of a single creator god — as opposed to the multitude of deities the ancient Greeks believed in — and influenced later monotheistic faiths.

"In a way, it was a precursor of Christianity," Pierris said. "Orphism believed that man's salvation depended on his knowledge of the truth."

Veleni said the manuscript "will help show the influence of Orphism on later monotheistic religions."...

Disclaimer: The Gospel Story is Fiction

There has been much talk about putting a "disclaimer" on the Da Vinci Code movie stating that it is fiction. In fact, India has evidently done just that. The writer of the article linked below makes several good points in regard to this Indian deed, including and especially that, as many others have likewise opined, the Bible itself should have such a disclaimer.

In this article, the Indian writer Venkat hits the bull's eye several other times in regard to the gospel tale, as found in the New Testament. For example, that the gospel writers are not familiar with Palestine and not expert in the Hebrew language is factual--and highly significant in that it demonstrates that the gospel writers were not "eyewitnesses" to the purported events. Venkat's timeline of biblical chronology placing the emergence of the gospels at the end of the second century is surprisingly accurate and goes firmly against the tide, even with my fellow Jesus mythicists, despite the fact that all the evidence points to such an assertion. Without having read my books The Christ Conspiracy and Suns of God, Venkat has managed to put together several of the most germane points found therein, which demonstrates that the picture painted of the New Testament representing fiction is both obvious and reasonably factual.

Now, here's where knowing my work would come in handy: The part about the flowing locks of Jesus being a later addition to the Christian tradition. Early images do depict Jesus with short, light hair, much like a Greek god. That the locks were not fashionable until Hadrian is useful information, as is knowing comparative mythology, in that the pre-Christian Greek healing god Aesclepius--called "Iasios," "Iesios," or Jason/Jesus, which means "savior"--had long, curly black hair, as did the very popular Greco-Egyptian god Serapis. As we also know, the "Jewish hero" Samson, in reality a sun god, also had long locks, which were shorn by the moon goddess Delilah. Importantly, I do not concur with Venkat that Christ is the first god who was created in the image of man, as all personified gods and goddesses are made in the image of their creator, i.e., man.

As concerns Venkat's remarks designed to disprove that the crucifixion account was an early theme in Christian mythology, the early Christian writer Minucius Felix's comments could be understood that Christians do not worship a criminal, not that they do not worship a man on a cross. The fact that Felix is addressing the crucifixion image at all--by saying that Romans themselves worship a god on a cross--would indicate that it was fashionable, in oral and literary tradition at least, to depict Jesus has having been crucified. That the human sacrifice/scapegoat ritual was popular and certainly being emulated in the gospel tale is true, as is that the Gnostic writings depict a crucifixion in the clouds that is purely symbolic. Whether or not the Gnostics actually practiced such a crucifixion on earth I do not know, but certainly proxies of God or a god were killed all over the Mediterranean and elsewhere for centuries and millennia in such scapegoat rituals.

In attempting to date the emergence of the Gnostic literature, Venkat cites the New Testament villain "Simon Magus" as having lived during the reign of Claudius. It is my contention that Simon Magus is not a "historical" person either but a composite of either the ancient Samaritan gods "Saman" and "Maga" or of the epithets of the one "Canaanite" god. It is my further contention that the reason the story was told by "Christians" (Gnostics) was in order to demote this popular Samaritan god under the new Christos.

Moreover, the motif of the woman wiping the feet of the anointed god is straight out of Egyptian mythology--and here is also where my work (and especially that of Massey) would have been useful. In Egyptian mythology, the soli-lunar god Osiris's feet are wiped with the hair of a goddess, Hathor-Meri. This is an important point, as it seems to be the linchpin of the claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were "married."

The god having sex with one or more priestess or proxy for the goddess is likewise a common theme, so I am not surprised to see it within Christianity, although I did not know about this specific text Genna Marias that Venkat mentions. It was common in ancient times for priests to tell the tall tale when a sacred harlot got knocked up that the fecundation had been by a god. Thus, there were many such "immaculate conceptions." (And an appalling amount of babies tossed into ponds near nunneries, in the Christian era as well.)

All in all, well done. And the point is well taken that the Gospel fable is no less fictional than the Da Vinci Code and hence deserves a similar disclaimer.

Silencing The Da Vinci Code
By Kalavai Venkat

Christian groups want The Da Vinci Code banned. A pliant Censor Board of India insists on a disclaimer at the beginning and end saying the film is "a work of pure fiction and has no correspondence to historical facts of the Christian religion." The Censor Board did not insist on any such disclaimer when Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, with its vividly anti-Semitic libels, was released. So, the Censor Board considers the story the Christian Bible peddles as historically accurate, and Dan Brown's story as a fiction. For either version of the Jesus story to be true or false, there must be historical evidence that Jesus existed. As Professor G. A. Wells demonstrates, there is none. Historians of that period have recorded events in detail, yet they are unaware of Jesus Christ, who remains an elusive and shadowy figure.

Pope asks where was God?

Yesterday, the Pope asked where God was during the horrors at the infamous Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.

An excellent question, to be sure. So, how can the Pope run about depicting this purported God with absolute certainty? After all, the Pope is supposed to be God's representative on Earth, which presupposes that this God exists in the first place.

It's actually a refreshing sign that the Pope would make such a query, as it lifts that burden off the chests of hundreds of millions worldwide who doubtlessly ask the same question on a regular basis in regard to umpteen other horrors. The world's horrors include the Church's own Inquisition, which tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of people. They also include the atrocious abuse of women and children worldwide, day after day, within numerous cultures under a variety of gods, including the biblical god in his various permutations, such as the Christian, Jewish and Muslim versions. Much of this horror occurs in the most "religious" and "God-fearing" nations on Earth.

So, where is God in all this appalling mess? Suddenly, this all-important question no longer is reserved for atheists and disbelievers who are subsequently subjected to the ridicule, personal attacks and inadequate responses by the faithful for daring to ask it.

Pope asks where God was in Auschwitz horror

By Philip Pullella and Natalia Reiter

OSWIECIM, Poland (Reuters) - Calling himself "a son of Germany," Pope Benedict prayed at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died in this "valley of darkness."

Ending a four-day pilgrimage to Poland, Benedict, 79, said humans could not fathom "this endless slaughter" but only seek reconciliation for those who suffered "in this place of horror."...

WHERE WAS GOD?

Scattered rain fell over Auschwitz until the main ceremony, when the skies cleared and a rainbow appeared.

Benedict said it was almost impossible, particularly for a German Pope, to speak at "the place of the Shoah."

"In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is a heartfelt cry to God -- Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"

"Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?"

Benedict, one of the Church's leading theologians, said humans could not "peer into God's mysterious plan" to understand such evil, but only "cry out humbly yet insistently to God -- 'rouse yourself! Do not forget mankind, your creature!"...

RELIGION IS MENTAL ILLNESS, GOD IS A PSYCHOPATH

Is religion a force for good or evil?

Warning: The following article contains disturbing and graphic language regarding the volatile and often violent nature of religious beliefs. It is meant to illustrate how religion has been used to spread hatred and intolerance of worldwide, in a variety of faiths. This short article is meant for educational purposes only, in the hope that humanity will learn from its past and not repeat it. Please note that it is almost entirely composed of quotes from other publications.

Many people believe that religion is a force for good that has brought God into their lives. But, does the record of religious belief reveal it as a force for good or evil?

Christianity--The Roots of Anti-Semitism

"With the wrath of an Old Testament prophet, historian Dagobert Runes (whose mother was killed by the Nazis) blamed the Christian church for the Holocaust. He wrote:

"'Everything Hitler did to the Jews, all the horribly unspeakable misdeeds, had already been done to the smitten people before by the Christian churches.... The isolation of Jews into ghetto camps, the wearing of the yellow spot, the burning of Jewish books, and finally the burning of the people--Hitler learned it all from the church. However, the church burned Jewish women and children alive, while Hitler granted them a quicker death, choking them first with gas.'

"Dr Runes said Christian priests and ministers still were inculcating hostility to Jews as the Third Reich arrived.

"'The clergymen don't tell you whom to kill; they just tell you whom to hate,' he wrote. 'The Christian clergymen start teaching their young at the tenderest age that THE Jews killed the beloved, gentle Son of God; that God Himself, the Father, punished THE Jews by dispension and the burning of their holy city; that God holds THE Jews accursed forever....'

"'For all the 2,000 years, there was no act of war against the Jews in which the church didn't play an intrinsic part. And whenever there was a trace of mercy, charity, or tolerance to be found amid the savagery, it came not from the church but from humanitarians in the civil world, as in Napoleonic France or during the American Revolution....'

"'Some fancy that these brutal outrages...occurred only in the Dark Ages, as if this were an excuse. Nay, when George Washington was president, Jewish people were burning on the spit in Mexico.... Wherever there are Christian churches there is anti-Semitism.'"

Source: Holy Horrors by James Haught.

Judaism--4,000 Years of Massacring Neighbors

"The massacre at Dueima in 1948 was perpetrated by the official Labor Zionist Israeli army, the Israel Defense Forces (Tzeva Haganah le-Israel or ZA-HAL). The account of the massacre, as described by a soldier who participated in the horror, was published in Davar, the official Hebrew daily newspaper of the Labor-Zionist-run Histadrut General Federation of workers:

"'They killed between eighty to one hundred Arab men, women and children. To kill the children they [soldiers] fractured their heads with sticks. There was not one home without corpses. The men and women of the villages were pushed into houses without food or water. Then the saboteurs came to dynamite them.

"'One commander ordered a soldier to bring two women into a building he was about to blow up.... Another soldier prided himself upon having raped an Arab woman before shooting her to death. Another Arab woman with her newborn baby was made to clean the place for a couple of days, and then they shot her and the baby. Educated and well-mannered commanders who were considered "good guys"...became base murderers, and this is not in the storm of battle, but as a method of expulsion and extermination. The fewer the Arabs who remain, the better.'"

Source: The Hidden History of Zionism by Ralph Schoenman.

Slavery by the "Good People"

"In another area of human rights, many Christian clergymen advocated slavery. Historians Larry Hise notes in his book, Proslavery, that ministers 'wrote almost half of all defenses of slavery published in America.' He listed 275 men of the cloth who use the Bible to prove that white people were entitled to own black people as work animals."

Source: Holy Horrors

God is a Psycho

"In December 1984, on Mohammed's birthday, Khomeini told his people:

"'War is a blessing for the world and for all nations. It is God who incites men to fight and to kill.The Koran says, "Fight until all corruption and all rebellion have ceased." The wars the Prophet led against the infidels were a blessing for all humanity. Imagine that we soon will win the war. That will not be enough, for corruption and resistance to Islam will still exist. The Koran says, "War, war until victory!..." The mullahs with corrupt hearts who say that all this is contrary to the teachings of the Koran are unworthy of Islam. Thanks to God, our young people are now, to the limits of their means, putting God's commandments into action. They know that to kill the unbelievers is one of man's greatest missions.'

"Amid all the killing, Iran also declared war on sexuality. Women were commanded to shroud themselves so completely that no lock of hair showed. Morality patrols in white jeeps cruised streets, arresting women for being 'badly veiled' and sending them to prison camps for three-month rehabilitation courses. Western magazines entering Iran went first to censors who laboriously blacked out every woman's picture except for her eyes."

Source: Holy Horrors

Religion is Mental Illness

"Philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote:

"'Religion is based...mainly upon fear...fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand.... My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.'"

Source: Holy Horrors

NEED WE SAY MORE? RELIGION EQUALS RACISM, SEXISM, SPECIESISM, SELF-HATRED, EXPLOITATION, SLAVERY, WAR. WE THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH ARE ONE. NO RACES, NO RELIGIONS, NO DUALITY, NO WAR.

Who was Mary Magdalene?

The mammoth success of The Da Vinci Code book and movie has propelled into the spotlight one of the world's most interesting figures, Mary Magdalene. In the gospel story, it is not to any of the apostles that the risen Jesus first appears but to Mary Magdalene, a momentous occasion that surely should have cemented her place as one of the most important people in history. The fact that it did not speaks volumes about the blatant disregard for women within the major monolithic religions, even in the face of the reverence for the Virgin Mary within Catholicism. Obviously, a "virgin mother" must be much more highly regarded than a common prostitute, which is what Mary Magdalene is assumed to have been. The recent fracas surrounding The Da Vinci Code revolves around the tradition that the precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ not only associated with this prostitute but married her and sired children with her. Nevertheless, despite all this intrigue, is Mary Magdalene really a "historical" character? It appears that the Magdalene is in reality one of the Triple Faces of the Goddess, worshipped within so-called Pagan cultures long before the Christian era.

For the rest of this article, please see Who was Mary Magdalene?

The Da Vinci Cod

Go ahead and admit it-- it's annoying to see the word "Code" missing the "e," isn't it? So, why did I title this essay "The Da Vinci Cod?" Simple--because it's a fish story. Don't get me wrong. I am enjoying to some degree the brouhaha "The Da Vinci Code" movie is causing worldwide, although I'm not obsessively paying attention to it, because, as others have pointed out, there's nothing new under the sun, and I've already lived through "The Last Temptation of Christ," as well as "Jesus of Montreal," both of which drew excited protests and then quickly faded into the woodwork to have little affect on the human mind.

It's not that I don't want "The Da Vinci Code" to have some impact on the global psyche. I do. I wish fervently that people would realize that our fairytales are just that: fairytales, fictitious and mutable. Anyone who knows my work understands that I uphold no sacred cows when it comes to the subject of the Jesus mythos. In fact, I go way beyond the Da Vinci Code in that I dare to suggest that "Jesus" was indeed "married" to "Mary Magdalene"--but within the realms of mythology, not history. For, I find no reason whatsoever to assume that the Jewish version of the virgin-born Son of God, Jesus, had any more reality in history than the Greek version of the virgin-born Son of God, Hercules. Say what? Yes, I do firmly believe that Jesus Christ is a myth through and through--no ifs, ands or buts about it. As a scholar of mythology going back some 40 years, I see little difference between what are widely viewed as myths and what is contained in the sacrosanct Bible. In other words, I view the Bible as little more than mummified mythology that dates back many millennia, with little evidence of it happening in "real life." There is no historical or archaeological record at all that supports the existence of Jesus Christ as he is depicted in the New Testament, so why should I, as a true scientist--"science" meaning "to know"--blindly accept that Christ existed on this earth, as a real person, at the time claimed in the New Testament? Frankly, as a person who attempts to be honest and truthful to the best of her ability, I should not simply accept this claim without any evidence at all. And there is no evidence at all.

Obviously, there is much more to this subject, which is why I have spent many years and spilled much ink on it, producing a couple of books and many treatises on the subject of Christian mythology, none of which need be repeated here, as the information is available on my website at Truthbeknown.com. Interested parties are warmly welcomed to investigate my writings there at any time they wish.

In the meantime, please feel free to enjoy "The Da Vinci Code" without worrying that you are forfeiting your reservation in heaven. As with the gospel story itself, you may remind yourself, "It's only a story." A fish story, in fact. It is the Da Vinci COD.

Celestial Find at Ancient Andes Site

"The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the Americas."

Readers of my books may ascertain that this archaeological discovery is particularly significant in demonstrating the origins of religion, extending back millennia in both the Old and New Worlds. Such a find, in fact, may turn those "old" and "new" appellations on their ear, as well as validate some of the more fascinating notions concerning astrotheology, or the natural religion revolving around the sun, moon, planets, stars, solstices, equinoxes and so on.

Over the past couple of centuries, it has been averred by several scholars and researchers that South America in reality possesses significant archaeological sites far older than the mainstream scientific paradigm has determined. Here is one such find, which, although it is "quite a shock" to mainstream archaeologists such as the one quoted below, is therefore not at all surprising to "renegade" researchers. In both The Christ Conspiracy and Suns of God, I evinced that the common ancient religious motifs are astrotheological and that they may be found around the world, centuries to millennia earlier than is widely assumed. Naturally, I was ridiculed for "my" theories on "Atlantis," even though I've never discussed Atlantis per se in my books. This Andean discovery in particular shows that the truth is somewhere closer to what we "radicals" propose.

In Suns of God, I wrote:

"In recent years, a great number of...ruins on all inhabited continents have been discovered that posess astronomical alignments, whether to the sun, moon, planets or constellations. For example, in 1998 it was reported that the 'oldest astronomical megalith alignment' was discovered in Southern Egypt..."

I further related that numerous megalithic sites with astronomical alignments had been found around Europe and Africa, dating to around 10,000 BCE. Furthermore, magnificent European cave drawings dating to 15,000 or more years ago evidently record celestial observations. I also related the studies done during the past two centuries by the aforementioned researchers whose works were not popularly acclaimed but who are now being proved correct in their assertions regarding both the age and the astrotheological significance of many archaeological sites in Central and South America. The astronomical alignments are clearly important and indicate religious significance. In this regard, it may be stated that germane "Christian" holidays such as Christmas and Easter are in fact very ancient astrotheological celebrations revolving in specific around the movements of the sun, i.e., the winter solstice and vernal equinox. These holidays are not, therefore, the dates of the birth and death of a "historical" Jesus Christ.

Celestial Find at Ancient Andes Site

The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the Americas.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer
May 14, 2006

Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas — a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as the stone pillars of Stonehenge.

The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-tall pyramid with precise alignments and sightlines that provide an astronomical calendar for agriculture, archeologist Robert Benfer of the University of Missouri said.

The people who built the observatory — three millenniums before the emergence of the Incas — are a mystery, but they achieved a level of art and science that archeologists say they did not know existed in the region until at least 800 years later.

Among the most impressive finds was a massive clay sculpture — an ancient version of the modern frowning "sad face" icon flanked by two animals. The disk, protected from looters beneath thousands of years of dirt and debris, marked the position of the winter solstice.

"It's really quite a shock to everyone … to see sculptures of that sophistication coming out of a building of that time period," said archeologist Richard L. Burger of Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the discovery.

The find adds strong evidence to support the recent idea that a sophisticated civilization developed in South America in the pre-ceramic era, before the development of fired pottery sometime after 1500 BC.

Benfer's discovery "pushes the envelope of civilization farther south and inland from the coast, and adds the important dimension of astronomy to these ancient folks' way of life," said archeologist Michael Moseley of the University of Florida, a noted Peru expert.

The 20-acre site, called Buena Vista, is about 25 miles inland in the Rio Chillon Valley, just north of Lima. "It is on a totally barren, rock-covered hill looking down on a beautiful fertile valley," said Benfer, who presented the find last month in Puerto Rico at a meeting of the Society for American Archeology.

The site is remarkably well preserved, Benfer said, because it rains in the area only about once a year.

The name of the people who inhabited the region is unknown because writing did not emerge in the Americas for 2,000 more years. Some archeologists call them followers of the Kotosh religious tradition. Others call them late pre-ceramic cultures of the central coast. For brevity, most simply call them Andeans.

Benfer and archeologist Bernardino Ojeda of Peru's National Agrarian University have been working at Buena Vista for four years. The site contains ruins dating from 10,000 years ago to well into the ceramic era in the first millennium BC.

The large pyramid and a temple occupy about 2 acres near the center of the site. Radiocarbon dating of cotton and burned twigs found in the temple's offering pit place its use at about 2200 BC.

That is about 400 years after the first pyramid was built in Egypt and about the same time that the peoples who would become the Greeks were settling into the Mediterranean region.

The temple is built of rock that was covered with plaster and painted, although most of the white and red paint has long since flaked off.

Benfer calls it the Temple of the Fox because a drawing of a fox is carved inside a painted picture of another animal, probably a llama, beside each doorway. According to Andean myth, the fox taught people how to cultivate and irrigate plants.

As the team mapped out the site, Benfer observed that a person standing in the doorway of the temple and gazing through a small, flap-covered window behind the altar is aligned with a small head carved onto a notch of a distant hill. The line had an orientation of 114 degrees from true north, pointing southeast.

Benfer does not normally deal with archeoastronomy — the science of ancient astronomy — so he contacted a childhood friend, Larry Adkins of Tustin, and asked him what that angle signified.

Adkins, a physicist who is retired from Rockwell International and who now teaches astronomy at Cerritos College, told him 114 degrees pointed the way to sunrise on the Southern Hemisphere's summer solstice, Dec. 21, the longest day of the year.

"That really got the ball rolling," Adkins said.

The summer solstice marks planting time, as the Rio Chillon begins its annual flooding, fed by melting ice higher up in the Andes. The flooding deposits fresh soil on the land, fertilizing the crops and eliminating the need for manure from domestic animals.

"This was the beginning of flood-plain agriculture," Benfer said. He thinks fishermen from the coast originally moved to the site to grow cotton for use in making fishing nets.

The large frowning disk sits near the door to the temple. It is made of mud plaster and grass and covered with a fine surface of clay.

Benfer speculates that the sculpture represents Pacha Mamma, the most important god of the Andes. He acknowledges the difficulty of proving that, however, because the next known sculpture of the mother goddess does not appear until 800 BC.

"The disk would frown over the sunset on the winter solstice, the last day of harvest," Benfer said.

Alignments in the temple also pointed to the position at the summer solstice of a constellation known in Andean culture as the fox, Benfer said.

Unlike Western constellations, which are outlined by groupings of stars, some Andean constellations were made from dark areas in the sky that are gaps in the bright Milky Way.

Scientists once thought that the gaps represented a lack of stars, but astronomers now know that they are caused by large clouds of dust that block light from distant stars.

The so-called dark cloud constellation of the fox is well-known today in the region, but archeoastronomer Anthony Aveni of Colgate University doubted that it has maintained its shape for four millenniums.

"He has an alignment. That's neat," Aveni said. But the idea that the ancients were looking at the same constellation "is a bit of a leap for me."

Last summer, Benfer's team also partially excavated a second sculpture, that of a life-sized human figure playing a pipe. The figure is sitting with its legs sculpted in high relief and hanging over the edge of one of a series of short platforms that lead down to what appears to be another temple.

The remaining 18 acres of the site have a variety of buildings, most of them from later cultures, that include a ceremonial center, stepped pyramids and what apparently was a residence center for elites. Most of those have been looted.

Oval houses that probably served as homes for families of commoners sit across a ravine from the main pyramid.

There were probably other buildings farther down the slopes, Benfer said, "but the Chillon River removes everything from time to time."

Evidence of pottery indicates that the site was inhabited for centuries, but it is not yet clear whether or how it was eventually abandoned.

"There were people in the valley at the time of the Spanish Conquest, but they were of several ethnic groups," Benfer said.

That suggests that the sophisticated civilization was eventually replaced by small bands of farmers who immigrated from various areas.

Abusing Women is Not Religion

(The following is a rant written in 1993 and reprinted from The Gospel According to Acharya S. It is not meant to be polite.)

There are certain buttheads - subhuman cretins, really - on this planet of vast dementia who believe that subjugating, enslaving and torturing human beings who happen to be in female bodies has something to do with "religion." These morons like to justify their despicable and disgusting behavior by claiming it to be laid down by some idiotic god monster who is somehow pleased by this wanton abuse of "his" creatures. In addition to the pervasive and hideous brainwashing and psychological, spiritual and emotional abuse forced upon women that they are "inferior" and must serve basically as servants and slaves to their husband-masters, a number of cultures somehow finds it "godly" or "righteous" to physically torture women.

"Religions" are Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Torture

In nations under the influence of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic conditioning, many millions of women have been taught that they hold no authority, and they must subjugate themselves to their father, husband or a giant male god in the sky who is looming and lording over them at all times. This subjugation is authorized, naturally, by that obnoxious god person's "holy" scriptures, as in: "... the head of a woman is her husband," etc. ad nauseam. For the basic attitude towards women, let us quote the great apostle Paul, whose neurotic mind has had such an influence upon the Western world: "It is well for a man not to touch a woman." (1 Corinthians 7:1) Of course this is somewhat milder than the Old Testament attitude towards Woman, which is that, first of all, she created the sinful state of mankind and must thereafter be punished - for eternity, no less! - by the "merciful" Lord. If a woman commits this or that so-called transgression according to the biblical "morals," she is to be stoned or suffer some other bloody fate. And let us not forget that orthodox Jews start their joyful day by thanking God for not making them a woman! In his infinite compassion, "God" has made woman a simply horrible creature! And, of course, the worst punishments are those for individuals, male and female, who simply refuse to believe in these concepts; so, mere unbelief is the most egregious transgression of all. Actions have nothing to do with it, but gender certainly does. Hence, according to all these religious traditions, "God" is utterly sexist - and we wonder why sexism refuses to fade into oblivion? It is dictated from the "Creator" on down. In fact, it is to be practiced as "God's will!"

Genital Mutilation is Not Holy

In addition to the psycho-spiritual abuse, around the globe women are used as beasts of burdens, babymaking machines and readily available sex-toys, and this ghastly attitude and treatment are constantly being justified by men and women alike as somehow being both necessary and righteous. Over 120 million women - mostly Muslim - worldwide have been hideously mutilated and disfigured at the hands of deranged fanatics who apparently believe that their Creator screwed up when "he" endowed women with genitals, which must be violently removed in "rituals" that often include the use of rusty knives or pieces of metal, or broken glass. The women, girls and female infants who undergo these unlovely "rituals" are generally not anesthetized but are often held down by other women, who sheepishly and shamelessly go along with the dictates of men. These women also often receive no post-mutilation care, and they sometimes bleed to death, with cascades of blood showering their feet.

Ankles are a Sexual Turn-on?!

In these same and other parts of the world, women are beaten, imprisoned, tortured, burned and sometimes killed for exposing their faces, hair, ankles or wrists, not to mention any other part of their bodies. Women are viewed as delicious temptresses who, unless subdued, would quickly destroy a man's morality. The weakness of the man is never blamed. He just can't help himself if he sees a beautiful, "seductive" woman exposed; he must have her or go mad. Thus, instead of learning to control their animalistic urges, these perverts put the blame on the women, who are then subjected to their full fury. Women are also worked to the bone and must keep reproducing or lose whatever little status they continue to hold. It is also quite logical to suppose that the constant covering up of their skin, thus depriving it of health-bestowing sunlight, would lead to horrible bone problems, osteoporosis, etc. - indeed, this is happening to Muslim women, especially in Afghanistan, where they are also starving, because they are viciously prevented from working.

There is Nothing Religious About Depravity

Too many people are afraid to actively condemn such despicable behavior, claiming to be "tolerant" and "respecting" of someone else's "religion." This attitude shows how deep the bullcrap has penetrated the human psyche. Millennia have elapsed during which these "memes" or units of mental programming have been passed down from generation to generation. So insidious is the notion that abusing women is somehow justifiable! The fact that this atrocious behavior and attitude towards women are justified by religion is one of the greatest hypocrisies of the human race. Indeed, it is a powerful slap in the face of the "Creator" - i.e., the Divine Creative Life Principle - which has endowed in human beings infinite abilities and creative genius well beyond the simple urges of bonding and reproducing. If one were truly religious, one would feel compelled to utilize one's "God-given" talents to the fullest, utterly appreciating them and being grateful for them. But no - instead, they are suppressed and denied to the point of nonexistence. In truth, if one were seriously concerned with living the divine life, in accordance to righteous principles, one would be thoroughly obliged to use any extraordinary skills and talents for the good of humanity and the betterment of all life upon this small planet. This would be the true fulfillment of the will of any good deity, if one existed. Unfortunately, in many places women are neither encouraged nor allowed to develop any such sublime and godly gifts.

This abusive behavior towards women flies in the face of the real "religious" or spiritual experience. It is "anti-God" and unspiritual, and creates such an enormous amount of suffering and horror as cannot be measured. No intelligent, thinking person could possibly go along with it, yet tens and hundreds of millions do, every day, day in and day out. A truly spiritual person will strive to end this abhorrent mistreatment, rather than perpetuate it. The perpetuation of suffering is not a religious experience by any stretch of imagination. It is an abomination.

"God" is Not a Man - Get It?!!

Much of this stupidity comes from the sexist notion that "God" - the Divine - is exclusively male, that there simply is no female aspect in creation. Obviously, to enlightened people, this is wrong - a sickening notion born of men's desire to control and lord over women. Creation is composed of both male and female, in equal proportions, and until that balance is reestablished, there will never be harmony and an end to misery on earth. A truly spiritual individual is neither male nor female, black nor white. She or he is nothing and everything. Let us recognize and welcome the variety in the cosmos! Vive la difference!

Holy Hothouse, Batman!

The melting of the glaciers in the world's tallest mountains is a global disaster in the making. If this catastrophe proceeds as predicted, the toll on life - human, animal and plant - will be staggering. So, how come the all-powerful Jesus isn't helping stop it? Are there no Christian environmentalists praying to him? Does his Omniscience not know what is happening? Perhaps Jesus is the wrong guy to approach. Thor has had much more experience with ice - maybe we should be praying to him!

For that matter, what about Buddha? The Tibetan Buddhists have for centuries methodically created and practiced a religious tradition that is considered very powerful in a number of ways, metaphysically and supernaturally. Traditions hold that Buddhists priests and monks have been able to do and create all sorts of magical things - so why can't they stop the top of the world from melting and destroying a significant percentage of the earth?

Obviously, these problems are extremely serious and are not going to go away without massive physical intervention of some sort. The problem is so immense that, barring some extraordinarily advanced technology being suddenly created or released, there doesn't seem to be any stopping it. I would love for us to be able to "just pray" or "raise our vibrations" or "think positive thoughts" in order to prevent this nightmare, truly I would. But it just doesn't seem to be working, and we are now in a state of emergency, as was predicted years ago. Superman, where are you?

Ice-capped roof of world turns to desert

Scientists warn of ecological catastrophe across Asia as glaciers melt and continent's great rivers dry up

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Published: 07 May 2006

Global warming is rapidly melting the ice-bound roof of the world, and turning it into desert, leading scientists have revealed.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences - the country's top scientific body - has announced that the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau are vanishing so fast that they will be reduced by 50 per cent every decade. Each year enough water permanently melts from them to fill the entire Yellow River.

They added that the vast environmental changes brought about by the process will increase droughts and sandstorms over the rest of the country, and devastate many of the world's greatest rivers, in what experts warn will be an "ecological catastrophe".

The plateau, says the academy, has a staggering 46,298 glaciers, covering almost 60,000 square miles. At an average height of 13,000 feet above sea level, they make up the largest area of ice outside the polar regions, nearly a sixth of the world's total.

The glaciers have been receding over the past four decades, as the world has gradually warmed up, but the process has now accelerated alarmingly. Average temperatures in Tibet have risen by 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 20 years, causing the glaciers to shrink by 7 per cent a year, which means that they will halve every 10 years.

Prof Dong Guangrong, speaking for the academy - after a study analysing data from 680 weather stations scattered across the country - said that the rising temperatures would thaw out the tundra of the plateau, turning it into desert.

He added: "The melting glaciers will ultimately trigger more droughts, expand desertification and increase sand storms." The water running off the plateau is increasing soil erosion and so allowing the deserts to spread.

Sandstorms, blowing in from the degraded land, are already plaguing the country. So far this year, 13 of them have hit northern China, including Beijing. Three weeks ago one storm swept across an eighth of the vast country and even reached Korea and Japan. On the way, it dumped a mind-boggling 336,000 tons of dust on the capital, causing dangerous air pollution.

The rising temperatures are also endangering the newly built world's highest railway, which is due to go into operation this summer. They threaten to melt the permafrost under the tracks of the £1.7bn Tibetan railway, constructed to link the area with China's northwestern Qinghai province.

Perhaps worst of all, the melting threatens to disrupt water supplies over much of Asia. Many of the continent's greatest rivers - including the Yangtze, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong and the Yellow River - rise on the plateau.

In China alone, 300 million people depend on water from the glaciers for their survival. Yet the plateau is drying up, threatening to escalate an already dire situation across the country. Already 400 cities are short of water; in 100 of them - including Beijing - the shortages are becoming critical.

Even hopes that the melting glaciers might provide a temporary respite, by increasing the amount of water flowing off the plateau - have been dashed. For most of the water is evaporating before it reaches the people that need it - again because of the rising temperatures brought by global warning.

Yao Tandong, head of the academy's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Institute, summed it up. "The full-scale glacier shrinkage in the plateau regions will eventually lead to an ecological catastrophe," he said.

Global warming is rapidly melting the ice-bound roof of the world, and turning it into desert, leading scientists have revealed.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences - the country's top scientific body - has announced that the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau are vanishing so fast that they will be reduced by 50 per cent every decade. Each year enough water permanently melts from them to fill the entire Yellow River.

They added that the vast environmental changes brought about by the process will increase droughts and sandstorms over the rest of the country, and devastate many of the world's greatest rivers, in what experts warn will be an "ecological catastrophe".

The plateau, says the academy, has a staggering 46,298 glaciers, covering almost 60,000 square miles. At an average height of 13,000 feet above sea level, they make up the largest area of ice outside the polar regions, nearly a sixth of the world's total.

The glaciers have been receding over the past four decades, as the world has gradually warmed up, but the process has now accelerated alarmingly. Average temperatures in Tibet have risen by 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 20 years, causing the glaciers to shrink by 7 per cent a year, which means that they will halve every 10 years.

Prof Dong Guangrong, speaking for the academy - after a study analysing data from 680 weather stations scattered across the country - said that the rising temperatures would thaw out the tundra of the plateau, turning it into desert.

He added: "The melting glaciers will ultimately trigger more droughts, expand desertification and increase sand storms." The water running off the plateau is increasing soil erosion and so allowing the deserts to spread.

Sandstorms, blowing in from the degraded land, are already plaguing the country. So far this year, 13 of them have hit northern China, including Beijing. Three weeks ago one storm swept across an eighth of the vast country and even reached Korea and Japan. On the way, it dumped a mind-boggling 336,000 tons of dust on the capital, causing dangerous air pollution.

The Challenge of Thor

This Norse ballad of Longfellow is brilliant.

Regarding Thor's militaristic nature, while I do emphasize "peace," I am paradoxically a "warrior" (being a double Aries - I can't help myself), so I do understand the "Fighters for Peace" concept, although I reserve the right to make fun of it and, consequently, myself. I do appreciate the sentiment in this poem, in that it throws Thor's hammer down before "the Galilean." This ballad concisely epitomizes a major battle on this planet and within human nature.

Longfellow might observe that it is evidently within my Nordic nature to defy the Galilean...

The Challenge of Thor
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I AM the God Thor,
I am the War God,
I am the Thunderer!
Here in my Northland,
My fastness and fortress,
Reign I forever!

Here amid icebergs
Rule I the nations;
This is my hammer,
Miölner the mighty;
Giants and sorcerers
Cannot withstand it!

These are the gauntlets
Wherewith I wield it,
And hurl it afar off;
This is my girdle;
Whenever I brace it,
Strength is redoubled!

The light thou beholdest
Stream through the heavens,
In flashes of crimson,
Is but my red beard
Blown by the night-wind,
Affrighting the nations!
Jove is my brother;
Mine eyes are the lightning;
The wheels of my chariot
Roll in the thunder,
The blows of my hammer
Ring in the earthquake!

Force rules the world still,
Has ruled it, shall rule it;
Meekness is weakness,
Strength is triumphant,
Over the whole earth
Still is it Thor's-Day!

Thou art a God too,
O Galilean!
And thus singled-handed
Unto the combat,
Gauntlet or Gospel,
Here I defy thee!

Blessed are the Peacemakers?

"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9

So says Jesus in the cherished Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are the peacemakers" - a lovely sentiment that the conscientious among us can see must be true. In this spirit, our leaders have devised a noble reward - the Nobel Peace Prize, ironically created by a man made rich through producing explosives.

In the same manner, despite this scripture by its founder, Christianity's most pious proponents have frequently been anything but peaceful, evidenced by the past 2,000 years of making war on unbelievers. Instead, these fervent believers have apparently been following this blatantly contradictory statement of Jesus's:

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34

Indeed, anyone who has tangled with fundamentalists and fanatic Christians can attest that there is something inherent in this ideology that makes people distinctly unpleasant or, rather, vicious.

Over the years that I have had a presence on the internet, because I dare to critique the obvious flaws in religion, and dare to suggest that the Emperor may be naked - to wit, that the story of Jesus Christ is patently unbelievable and that he is more likely than not a mythical, not historical, character - I have been assailed with such tremendous ferocity that it can be truthfully stated that few fervent Christians consider peacemakers to be blessed. If the purported founder of Christianity is correct in that assessment - as would be sensible for any civilized person - then these Christians have been behaving in a most unblessed manner. But, the opposite of blessed includes "cursed," "damned" and "unholy." Thus, it could be said that, according to Jesus Christ, those who are not peacemakers are unholy.

One of my biggest beefs about Christianity and religion in general is precisely that, by dictating that they and they alone are "gospel truth," these ideologies create an unpleasant, bigoted, prejudiced and rotten mentality that spews forth at everyone around. The most fervent upholders of this mentality are in a league of their own when it comes to arrogance, egotism, conceit and nastiness. They sincerely believe that they are the representatives of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit or whatever megalomaniacal entity they can muster, while everyone else is unworthy and less than.

Among the insults that have been tossed my way - of which many others no doubt have also been on the receiving end - are the following:

• I am being duped and/or led by the Devil/Satan.
• I am Satan's mouthpiece.
• I am evil.
• I am very bad.
• I am a sinner.
• I am ignorant.
• I am a stupid, limited human who cannot understand the magnitude and ways of God.

And so on.

In my individual case, the vitriol includes that I am a "bully" and a "coward." Never mind that I am jousting with the cosmos's biggest bully and bogeyman, i.e., God/Jesus, who is designed to scare the bejesus out of ya and who will throw you into eternal hellfire for not falling down on your knees to worship Him! I am also a "fraud" and a "liar," as well as numerous other epithets clearly designed to punish me for daring to declare the emperor's obvious nakedness.

Ah yes, blessed are the peacemakers. I can see their heavenly rooms with a view being reserved right now...

To understand this behavior, it is necessary to look at the remarks of conservative Christian commentator Chuck Smith, who makes the following statements regarding Matthew 5:9:

"Peace is more than a passive existence; it's a very positive state of good. A peacemaker is more than one who stops quarrels; he brings good into other people's lives. A peacemaker might become involved in great conflicts As long as the forces of evil prevail, there is no way to have peace except by destroying them. Peacemakers deal with the corrupted issues so that there can be a true state of peace. Jesus was fighting against the corrupted religious system and for peace between man and God (John 2:14-16; Matthew 23:27). Real peace can never be found in a compromise with evil. There can never be a peaceful coexistence with sin (1 Corinthians 5:7; Isaiah 57:20, 48:22). Peacemakers bring others to God."

Herein lies the rub, which may explain a few things: Pathologically self-righteous fundamentalists justify their evidently gleeful and sadistic contempt for and mistreatment of other human beings by claiming that in order to have peace, we must make war on the unbelievers. In other words, no matter what you do - whether breaking bread with your neighbor or chopping his head off - so long as you believe, you are doing "good."

And they claim atheists have no moral compass!

Such a polemical definition of what is a peacemaker will not suffice to pacify all parties, so perhaps we should stick to the simple dictionary definition:

"peacemaker: someone who tries to bring peace"

And what is "peace?"

"Inner contentment; serenity: peace of mind."

Amen, Hallelujah, and Praise the Lord.

My sincerest wish for all people on Earth is that they may be able to attain to such a wondrous state of being.

Who's Wackier, Christians or Scientologists?

A friend and I were discussing Tom Cruise when we both commented that Scientology is pretty loony. "Not really more so," I remarked, knowing that my friend is nominally Christian, "than believing there is an invisible Jewish guy floating around." She laughed and nodded in agreement. Now, I was born into a Christian family, and I well know what it means to be a Christian; yet, I find it no more "reality" and no less loopy than any other wacky religious system, including Scientology.

Scientologists have tended to be highly litigious, and they certainly have an oddly inordinate amount of money and power. Having copyedited the book Sex and Rockets, which among other things delves significantly into the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, I have to say that I've read some very strange things about the man that should make anyone involved in his religion/cult pause for a moment. I haven't studied the seminal Scientology manual, Dianetics, as I have found the entire movement somewhat offputting. I have wondered what is the allure that so many of the rich and famous adhere to it? Is there something we mere mortals are not seeing? Perhaps we're missing the boat - after all, some of the biggest names and very rich people are involved in Scientology. Maybe they're doing something right and believing in the right god and religion! Where do we sign up?!

But the point of this essay is not really to figure out why Scientology is so frighteningly popular with powerful people but to make note that, as weird as it is, it isn't truly more outrageous, bizarre, loony or wacky than believing there is a giant, invisible, immortal and all-powerful Jewish man floating about all over the place.

This point is also illustrated by the following story: Years ago, a delightfully kooky friend of mine and I were discussing his fervent interest and belief in aliens, UFOs and other realms. His mother was so concerned about his interest that she thought he should receive medical treatment, as did other family members.

"They're Christian," he said, "so they don't believe in any of this stuff."

"Well," I replied, "it seems much more sane to think there are UFOs flying around the sky than to believe there's a Jewish guy floating out there. After all, UFOs belong in the sky, while an invisible Jewish guy doesn't."

My friend laughed heartily and felt much better. He's still plenty wacky, but who isn't?

Believe like me - or you're nuts!

The following is an email I recently received. Notice all the ad hominems, in an attempt to bludgeon me into accepting this person's perspective. Note also that a number of the premises for his insults are not even true.

From: JC
To: Acharya S
Subject: You are crazy my friend!!!
Date: Wed, 3 May 2006

Realy,I pity you. Why are you trying to give to everyone proof that we are meaningless? I tell you that the answer is simple. You fell meaningless yourself and try to proove everyone that they are like you!! You promote free time and say you should enjoy life, but yet you waste your time in sensless claims.

You are alive because you are born, and you will not die unless your brain stops functioning. Try to imagine that you will die and you will never exist again. Then immagine the universe if God never created it (science presumes that there is a cause to everything!! What is the cause of existance in your opinion if there was nothing before the big bang? Do you realy think that after the end of all physical matter, nothing will ever exist again? You are funny.)
You are saying that life is a curse to everyone, as every one must accept his evident and eventual demise!!

Explain this to me. Miracles- the healing powr of God in several occations and in holy places like in the waters of Lourdes, Explain the Stigmata or possesion!! Explain the eucharsitical miracles, that in occasions REAL BLOOD comes out from the host. OBVIOUSLY you can't as you in your simlicity are no match for God.

Another thing. The violence in the Bible happened only when us humans refused to listen to the word of God. In every way, man has always denied God like you are doing now. You have not been violently massacered.

One last thing. You are certian that God doesn't exist. We humans know almost nothing about anything. HOW CAN AN IGNORANT HUMAN THAT MAKES SENSETIONALIST CLAIMS, SUCH AS YOUR SELF, SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT, WHEN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE SPEND THEIR LIVES TO FIND THE ANSWER AND FAILED?

Alas that is a question that you in your ignorance can answer.

Have faith in God

The "Historical" Jesus?

(The following is a slightly modified excerpt from my book Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled.)

It has been demonstrated herein that there is no evidence for the existence of Christ, Christians or Christianity in the literary or archaeological record of the first century. Nor do the earliest Christian texts provide evidence of an "historical" Jesus. In addition, the canonical gospels do not make their appearance until late in the second century. Moreover, a number of the main characters and places in the gospel tale cannot be verified by extrabiblical evidence. In the end, it is evident that "the traditional narrative of the Birth, Death, and Resurrection was constructed from data of the Old Testament, mystically interpreted." As Leidner remarks, "The gospel story is fictional in its entirety. There never was a Jesus of Nazareth and there never was a crucifixion story."

It is claimed that the reason Jesus is not found in any historian's works of the day is because, while a "real person," this "world savior" was an "itinerant Galilean preacher" and an "obscure rabbi." This obscure rabbi's "bio" was then enhanced by his followers, who, after his death, added a series of miracles and fairytales to his mundane life. After a thorough analysis of all the evidence, it is clear that the gospel tale is not a "bio" of an "itinerant Galilean preacher," who nobody had heard of but whose unknown and impoverished followers were so powerful that they could pull off one of the greatest coups in history. It simply did not happen. There was no "man" who so inspired his lowly disciples that--with greater supernatural power than Jesus ever possessed--they could convince Rome, with its crusty, cynical, old white male elite, to fall down on its knees to worship him. Particularly when he was of a "race" or ethnicity deemed peculiar and troublesome, if not despised, throughout the Roman Empire.

As to the Romans mindlessly adopting this non-entity from the backwater and turning him into a god...can anyone seriously imagine today the U.S. Senate entertaining for one moment the idea of deifying, say, a begging, dirty, scruffy, homeless provincial preacher from an alien culture, whose fable was presented to them, decades or centuries after the alleged events, without a shred of evidence that it ever happened? And to adore and worship one whose close companions included poor and uneducated hayseeds? The all-powerful Romans suddenly overthrowing their entire established, entrenched and profitable religious organizations and priesthoods, the secret societies to which practically all the elite belonged, closing down the mystery schools that had been in existence for ages, forgetting utterly about the numerous gods they adored for eons, and reducing their current leader, who himself was deified, to a mere servant of an obscure preacher from hicksville? Such a scenario is impossible to conceive, even with the gullibility and credulity of a small child. Such a view constitutes naivete of the highest order. Importantly, it represents a deleterious delusion....

When one studies the subject in depth, the conclusion is that there is no core to the Christian onion. Overall, it is evident that, like Gulliver's Travels, the gospel story is fiction, not history. Like Gulliver, Jesus is given a "real world" in which to play out his drama, with real figures out of history, but this tactic is no different than what was done with the numerous ancient gods, who in actuality never existed as "real people."

(The following is from my book The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold.)

Christianity and the story of Jesus Christ were created by members of various secret societies, mystery schools and religions in order to unify the Roman Empire under one state religion. In making such a fabrication, this multinational cabal drew upon a multitude of myths and rituals that already existed long before the Christian era, and reworked them for centuries into the story and religion passed down today.