And our Lexicon grows!

- Glossolalia –  also known as “xenoglossy” (emphasis on the ‘glossy’) is the required 2nd language of Dominionist Sheeples. We are more familiar with it referred to as “speaking in tongues”. The basis for this “language” doesn’t exist, but you cannot convince them, and they aren’t even the least bit embarrassed by the absurdity of putting it into practice.

Here is an article that discusses this act from a scientific evaluation of ‘glossololia’ -

Glossolalia is fabricated, meaningless speech.

According to Dr. William T. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Toronto,

glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables made up of sounds taken from those familiar to the speaker and put together more or less haphazardly …. Glossolalia is language-like because the speaker unconsciously wants it to be language-like. Yet in spite of superficial similarities, glossolalia fundamentally is not language (Nickell, 108).

When spoken by schizophrenics, glossolalia are recognized as gibberish. In charismatic Christian communities glossolalia is sacred and referred to as “speaking in tongues” or having “the gift of tongues.” In Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire are described as alighting on the Apostles, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Allegedly, this allowed the Apostles to speak in their own language but be understood by foreigners from several nations.

Glossolalics behave in various ways, depending on the social expectations of their community. Some go into convulsions or lose consciousness; others are less dramatic. Some seem to go into a trance; some claim to have amnesia of their speaking in tongues. All believe they are possessed by the Holy Spirit and the gibberish they utter is meaningful. However, only one with faith and the gift of interpretation is capable of figuring out the meaning of the meaningless utterances. Of course, this belief gives the interpreter unchecked leeway in “translating” the meaningless utterances. Nicholas Spanos notes: “Typically, the interpretation supports the central tenets of the religious community” (Spanos, 147).

Uttering gibberish that is interpreted as profound mystical insight by holy men is an ancient practice. In Greece, even the priest of Apollo, god of light, engaged in prophetic babbling. The ancient Israelites did it. So did the Jansenists, the Quakers, the Methodists, and the Shakers.

“Glossolalia is fabricated, meaningless speech.

According to Dr. William T. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Toronto,

glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables made up of sounds taken from those familiar to the speaker and put together more or less haphazardly …. Glossolalia is language-like because the speaker unconsciously wants it to be language-like. Yet in spite of superficial similarities, glossolalia fundamentally is not language (Nickell, 108).

When spoken by schizophrenics, glossolalia are recognized as gibberish. In charismatic Christian communities glossolalia is sacred and referred to as “speaking in tongues” or having “the gift of tongues.” In Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire are described as alighting on the Apostles, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Allegedly, this allowed the Apostles to speak in their own language but be understood by foreigners from several nations.

Glossolalics behave in various ways, depending on the social expectations of their community. Some go into convulsions or lose consciousness; others are less dramatic. Some seem to go into a trance; some claim to have amnesia of their speaking in tongues. All believe they are possessed by the Holy Spirit and the gibberish they utter is meaningful. However, only one with faith and the gift of interpretation is capable of figuring out the meaning of the meaningless utterances. Of course, this belief gives the interpreter unchecked leeway in “translating” the meaningless utterances. Nicholas Spanos notes: “Typically, the interpretation supports the central tenets of the religious community” (Spanos, 147).

Uttering gibberish that is interpreted as profound mystical insight by holy men is an ancient practice. In Greece, even the priest of Apollo, god of light, engaged in prophetic babbling. The ancient Israelites did it. So did the Jansenists, the Quakers, the Methodists, and the Shakers.”

They tell a fable from the Book of Acts II: 1-11 to support the notion that such an event really did occur and it was prophesied by Joel that this kind of thing would happen in the last days. There is nothing in Joel, however, that prophesied that, when the last days didn’t come as predicted, plan B would be to wait 1900 years and have a revival and claim that when you speak gibberish it is a sign that God loves you.

Interesting – doncha think? Somehow, I’m thinkin’ they have taken these ancient interpretations and twisted them – and as we have discussed, they are experts at twisting biblical intent. Here is a video of one of their revered ‘church’ leaders speaking this eloquent language…

Gives you the chills doesn’t it? The article goes on to say…

What is the real Truth about Tongue Speaking?

Many Christians believe that speaking in tongues is the fulfilment of the Latter Rain promised in Joel 2:28-29 and that it is the final manifestation of the Holy Spirit before the Second Coming of Christ. It is also commonly taught that you have not received the Holy Spirit and are not saved unless you have demonstrated the gift of speaking in tongues, and tongues seems to be the only sought after gift in the tongue speaking Church today.

And here we bump up against the End Times/End of Times/Armageddon mentality once again. But I have the King James Version of the Christian Bible and when I read Joel 2:28-29…well, ummm, it doesn’t say anything about talking in babble-baby talk.

Isn’t it amazing what men can contrive and sell to the masses? Frightening!

In the process of transitioning web sites, I want to start a new series that will be ongoing on the new site.  As I have said, we will be departing the Palin port and moving into broader scopes. This will sometimes require ongoing ties back to Queen Esther – as in today’s post about the antics of Franklin Graham and his neat lil company, “Samaritan’s Purse”. Referring back to her is inevitable because they did actually choose her (as unbelievable as that still remains to my rational mind), one year ago today.

My partner Alex (aka ‘dogemporer’), in the upcoming book has done extensive research and writing over the years on dominionism and religious extremism. A great deal of her “diaries” as she calls them are spread across many web sites in the blogosphere…but I am going to start re-posting portions of them with links to her entire articles on the new blog site, “godsownparty”, in an effort to bring them into one place. Her work is invaluable.

So today I am going to share an article about proselytizing in the military and the parasites that swoop in to “harvest souls” like our friend Franklin Graham – Billy Graham’s spot-on example of a prodigal son – a rich daddy’s-boy who travels the world perpetuating his father’s multi-million dollar “souls-for-money” business. We saw Frank recently shuttling Palin, Parnell and the self-righteous Baptist from Anchorage, Alaska (Jerry Prevo), around to a couple of villages in western Alaska. They stood around the plane and had prayer group hugs on camera, and claimed their acts as altruistic in the name of Jesus.

First of all…there is nothing altruistic about these people. There is always an agenda, and that agenda is that you either convert to their game or get squashed. They need the numbers, for how else will they be able to traverse the globe in private planes, motorcycles, boats, limos – you name it spreading the ‘wurd’? They feed off those in despair like zealot parasites in the name of Jesus.

If it sounds like I am angry today it is because I am. A true American patriot, USAF graduate, former White House counsel in the Reagan Administration and my friend Mikey Weinstein and his family have been horribly harassed, threatened and terrorized because of his work to prevent these parasites from dominating faith in the military through his Military Religious Freedom Foundation. So I am compelled to speak out about these lovely dominionist ‘c’hristians and share the tangled web they weave together, including their act of military proselytizing.

Alex has already written about this connection in June 2008 between Samaritan’s Purse and military proselytizing which is included in  full article here – but below I would like to include portions of it so I can interject a few comments:

The recent incident where a Marine was recently found distributing “Bible coins” promoted by a fundamentalist “Bible church” is, sad to say, far from the first incident of overt proselytizing in Iraq.

The truth is, this sort of thing has been going on literally since Gulf War I, and ramped up in Gulf War II–and, ironically, has directly threatened the future existence of two of the oldest Christian churches in the world–churches that can literally trace their founding to one of the Twelve Apostles. Even more disturbingly, most of the worst proselytizing has been with civilian dominionist groups that target both Iraqi citizens and US military personnel.

Not the first, and not even the worst, example of “invading missionaries”

Whilst the “Bible coin” fiasco has been given considerable press (in part because of military involvement following an incident where a copy of the Quran was used for target practice), it is by no means the first or the worst example of targeting of Iraqis–including other “people of the book”–by dominionist “missionaries”.

It has been little publicized, but dominionist “missionary” groups have been in Iraq since the US government hit the ground in Gulf War II–and their activities may have in fact directly led in part to the bucket of hell that the country is in…and to US military being targeted.

One of the first groups on the ground–and one of the more notorious offenders in regard to the use of “bait and switch” evangelism, especially in regards to relief efforts–was Frank Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse (which made plans as soon as 2003 to enter the country). The SBC, the Assemblies of God, and other groups also moved in quite rapidly after Saddam Hussein’s government fell.

Samaritan’s Purse’s actions have been especially odious. Among other things, the group literally described the attempted genocide of Iraq’s Kurdish population as a “missionary opportunity”; never mind that Kurdish people are already a marginalized people and that one of the more heavily demonized religious minorities in Iraq exists among the Kurdish people (the Yezidi faith, which venerates Malek Taus as a bringer of wisdom–a being normally equated to Shaitan in traditional Islam, which has led to Yezidis being (falsely) accused of being Satanists). As it is, Samaritan’s Purse’s leader stated that Islam was a “wicked and violent” religion in such terms that even George W. Bush didn’t want to touch that statement with a 40-foot barge pole.

Okay…It is not a stretch her to place Franklin Graham and Erik Prince (Mr. Xe formerly known as Blackwater) in the same tree house when they were young and playing army. Frank actually was kown to take an automatic rifle and use it as a chain saw but shooting up the base of trees to the point of toppling them. Picture the vitriol hatred the 2 of them share in their righteous ‘c’hristianity towards Islam. An ugly and dangerous combination. Look at them – they look like twins. ‘c’hristians filled with hate. Wow!

Samaritan’s Purse also has a well-documented history of forcing people to be proselytized to as a condition of disaster aid and especially targeting children to do so–including gift boxes given to children with religious toys.

Starving, homeless, displaced children and families – suffering the horrors of war or other disasters – and here come these “people of God”, swooping in with aid but tell them they can’t have it until they have listen to the sales pitch and are “saved” before they can have food, clothing or trinket dangling before them.

This is saving souls!  This is extortion! Shame on them!

In fact, the “bait and switch” extended to adults as well; Samaritan’s Purse ended up wearing out its welcome with the Red Cross during Gulf War I (by pulling stunts where it required people to watch “The Jesus Film” to receive aid at a Jordanian refugee center) which could have gotten our soldiers in serious trouble with their host country:

Even Franklin Graham used some of these methods. According to Graham’s biography, “Rebel With a Cause,” during the last Gulf War, Samaritan’s Purse went to Jordan under the banner “Operation Desert Save” with food and aid–and showed the Jesus Film at night until the International Red Cross complained. Graham then used the Dear Abby Any Servicemen campaign to send Arabic language Scripture tracts and New Testaments into Saudi Arabia-a country he describes as “wicked”–and smuggled them past censors concerned about cultural sensitivity by using the Dear Abby postmark. The U.S. Postal Service, acting on a complaint by Dear Abby, brought the campaign to an end.

(Of Note: Samaritan’s Purse was among a number of dominionist groups (including the Assemblies front group FGBMFI) known to have funneled aid to the Contras under the guise of “aid” and conducted extensive “bait and switch” evangelism in Nicaragua)

And lest people think Samaritan’s Purse’s behavior in Iraq was an aberration–they’re reported to have targeted survivors of Hurricane Katrina in identical manner. In fact, Frank Graham explicitly saw Katrina as “God’s Judgment” on New Orleans (how many times do we have to tell these folks that Hurricane Katrina is not divine retribution, and if it were, then God must have the worst aim in the world as Bourbon Street was probably the least damaged area that Katrina hit?).

Ironically, the influx of dominionist missionaries may well have been one of the worst things to have happened to the Christian community in Iraq in modern times.

Almost from the time they arrived, dominionist groups started aggressively targeting both Moslem *and* Christian groups for conversion–including the Chaldean Catholic and Iraqi Orthodox churches, two of the longest-lived congregations in all of Christianity. Traditionally, some of the churches in Iraq literally were founded by missionary efforts of no less than St. Thomas. As in the disciple Thomas, as in one of the guys who personally knew Jesus when he was alive in Christian tradition. Yes, these are literally some of the first Christian churches ever set up, where St. Paul would have been visiting as a traveling preacher visiting established churches.

Enough is enough for the Christian community in Iraq. The head of Iraq’s largest Christian community, Patriarch Emmanuel Delly, recently scathingly attacked the evangelical Christians who have taken their crusade to Iraq since the illegal U.S. invasion of March 2003.

According to Delly, the evangelicals attract poor youths with displays of money and then “take them out in cars to have fun. Then, they take photos and send them here, to Germany, to the United States and say ‘look how many Muslims have become Christian.’”

The interesting thing is…before the dominionist missionaries came, relations between the Christian and Moslem communities in Iraq were historically quite good in modern times. There was very much a spirit of “live and let live”–groups kept to their faith, and there was little effort at trying to convert each other.

This pretty much got shot to hell by dominionist missionaries…who, in part because of their actions, are now causing one of the oldest groups in Christendom to flee their country in droves and causing them to be targeted in such numbers that the word “genocide” has been increasingly used to describe the situation.

And increasingly, our soldiers are being associated with having brought the Dominionists to Iraq by its countrymen–and, sadly, with reports of ongoing attempts at steeplejacking of the US military’s chaplaincy system (which has been frighteningly successful in the Army and Air Force; the Navy still seems to be giving a good fight), this is not necessarily inaccurate.

Thank you, Alex.

And that is exactly what Weinstein is fighting, and being persecuted for. Working to keep our military free from these ‘c’hristian cult leaders who have now invaded the chaplaincy and dominated it, leaving subordinates to be pressured into conversion under threat of insubordination and misconduct.

And because of his fight to keep religious choice free in the military, he and his family have come under the most heinous fire. Mr. Weinstein, you sir are a true patriot!

One of the extraordinary people that I have had the pleasure to meet along this path is retired Pastor Howard Bess who resides in Palmer, Alaska…   miles from Wasilla.  Pastor Bess was interviewed by the press last year during the presidential campaign. When Sarah Palin was on the Wasilla city council , she organized an all out effort to censor a book written by Pastor Bess titled, “Pastor I Am Gay”.  Her efforts stirred up the hackles of like-minded extremists in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley (Mat-Su) and they were successful in preventing his book from being sold and promoted in local bookstores. As stated in an article in Salon.com from September 2008…

“Inevitably, his [Pastor Bess] work brought him into conflict with Palin and other highly politicized Christian fundamentalists in the valley. “Things got very intense around here in the ’90s — the culture war was very hot here,” Bess said. “The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to.”

Bess’ first run-in with Palin’s religious forces came when he decided to write his book, “Pastor, I Am Gay.” The book was the result of a theological journey that began in the 1970s when Bess was asked for guidance by a closeted homosexual in his Santa Barbara congregation”…[which became the inspiration for his book].

“She scares me,” said Bess. “She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.

“At this point, people in this country don’t grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology.”

Over the past year I have had the pleasure of consulting and speaking with Pastor Bess, who sends newsletters out on a regular basis.  The one I received this morning I think speaks volumes about the compassionate, caring and kind Jesus Christ that is the basis for mainstream Christians…as opposed to this “Warrior Christ” that the evangelical extremists Dominionist cult of re-invented ‘c’hristianity has created. Please watch the following video with an interview of Pastor Bess by Max Blumenthal:

.

I don’t mean this to sound like Bible study, but I think it behooves us all to understand the way the Dominionists have such a violent and dramatically different view from mainstream Christians so that we don’t become intolerant of all people of Christian faith.  I would like to share a few observations from Pastor Bess that are worthy of noting from this mornings’ newsletter with you…

THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL TRANSLATION

By Howard Bess

The Bible is a collection of ancient writings.  The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  Naively I studied Greek and Hebrew thinking that they would be the keys that would unlock the truest meanings of Christianity’s sacred book.  Greek was my undergraduate minor and the study of Hebrew awaited me in my first year of graduate school.  Along the way I ran into some surprises.

For starters, I was introduced to textual criticism.  I learned that there were hundreds of variant texts, and even the oldest of those manuscripts did not even come close to the time of original writings.  Then I faced the reality that Jesus’ every day language was neither Hebrew nor Greek.  It was Aramaic.  If he spoke a second language, it was a pigeon Greek that had minimal resemblance to either classical Greek or koine (common) Greek.  Trying to trace the words of Jesus with some level of accuracy all the way to modern English translations is a detective story not fully understood by the finest of Bible scholars.

My next big surprise came when I realized that an even more challenging translation task lay ahead of me as a pastor.  It is called cultural translation.  Every Sunday I had the responsibility to speak to my congregation about what the Bible messages mean to people of the late 20th century and the early 21st century.  Flawed as the texts of our modern English Bibles might be, clear messages emerge and demand to be translated into modern life.

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, a vigorous movement is afoot to translate Jesus into modern life.  Jesus from Nazareth is being understood as a community activist, who took on the critical issues of economics, race, politics and religion.  He was a vigorous social reformer.   How are we to translate his messages and concerns into the 21st century?

In 2007 the National Council of Churches of Christ published A Social Creed for the 21st Century.  The document is a thoughtful attempt to translate the messages of Jesus into our own culture.  While I have revised, added and subtracted, I acknowledge the instruction of the NCC document.  Even more I acknowledge the stories, sayings and actions that Jesus left for our guidance and instruction.

Jesus has left us at least five mandates.

First, all men and women without regard to race, age, cultural roots, or sexual orientation, are to have full human rights….civil, political, economic, religious.

Jesus’ acceptance and relationships with women and children were outside of the bounds of social norms.  His relationship with women was considered nothing short of scandalous.  He was charged with eating with thieves and those who drank too much. He befriended Samaritans.  Sexual orientation was not an issue in the day of Jesus, but he made it plain that everyone was welcome at the dinner table of God.

Second, priority attention is to be given to the people who are most vulnerable.  The poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the widow, the orphan.  In a modern world universal health care, expansion of the food stamp program, social security for older persons, tax and budget policies that diminish the gap between the rich and the poor, quality education for everyone, and affordable housing, cannot be set aside.

Just as sexual orientation was an unknown issue in Jesus’ day, so also was concern about the unborn.  Awareness has confronted us with reality.  A Jesus ethic in a modern world cannot ignore the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, the unborn child. Third, we all must adopt simpler lifestyles that support and sustain the world in which we live.  We now know that we live in a world of limited resources.  Land, water, and air are all limited resources that are necessary for the survival of the human race.  The world cannot renew itself as fast as we are using its resources.  We must curb our appetites.                                                                                                                               In addition, we are polluting the world’s resources.  Burning fossil fuels has possibly fouled the world’s land, water and air beyond recovery.  We must find different sources of energy.    The rule is simple.  If it’s not clean, we ought not to be using it.   Polluting the world is a sin against the whole human family.  We cannot say we love our neighbor and leave that neighbor with a polluted and inadequate environment.

Fourth, war is an unacceptable way of resolving conflicts between human beings.  Peacemaking is the highest calling of a devout follower of Jesus our Christ from Nazareth.  I cannot even imagine Jesus in an act of violence.  The Christian warrior becomes a tragic oxymoron.

Fifth, we must become people of trust.  We need to be trustworthy, but along with that we must be willing to trust those who appear to be untrustworthy.  Trust produces trust.

I am happy to leave the translating of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English to those who have mastered the languages.  I cannot escape translating the Jesus message into my every day life.

THE END

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska.  His email address is hdbss@mtaonlline.net.

THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL TRANSLATION  By Howard Bess

The Bible is a collection of ancient writings.  The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  Naively I studied Greek and Hebrew thinking that they would be the keys that would unlock the truest meanings of Christianity’s sacred book.  Greek was my undergraduate minor and the study of Hebrew awaited me in my first year of graduate school.  Along the way I ran into some surprises.

For starters, I was introduced to textual criticism.  I learned that there were hundreds of variant texts, and even the oldest of those manuscripts did not even come close to the time of original writings.  Then I faced the reality that Jesus’ every day language was neither Hebrew nor Greek.  It was Aramaic.  Trying to trace the words of Jesus with some level of accuracy all the way to modern English translations is a detective story not fully understood by the finest of Bible scholars.

My next big surprise came when I realized that an even more challenging translation task lay ahead of me as a pastor.  It is called cultural translation.

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, a vigorous movement is afoot to translate Jesus into modern life. Jesus from Nazareth is being understood as a community activist, who took on the critical issues of economics, race, politics and religion.  He was a vigorous social reformer. How are we to translate his messages and concerns into the 21st century?

Jesus has left us at least five mandates.

First, all men and women without regard to race, age, cultural roots, or sexual orientation, are to have full human rights….civil, political, economic, religious.

Jesus’ acceptance and relationships with women and children were outside of the bounds of social norms.  His relationship with women was considered nothing short of scandalous.  He was charged with eating with thieves and those who drank too much. He befriended Samaritans.  Sexual orientation was not an issue in the day of Jesus, but he made it plain that everyone was welcome at the dinner table of God.

Second, priority attention is to be given to the people who are most vulnerable.  The poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the widow, the orphan.  In a modern world universal health care, expansion of the food stamp program, social security for older persons, tax and budget policies that diminish the gap between the rich and the poor, quality education for everyone, and affordable housing, cannot be set aside.

Third, we all must adopt simpler lifestyles that support and sustain the world in which we live.  We now know that we live in a world of limited resources.  Land, water, and air are all limited resources that are necessary for the survival of the human race.  The world cannot renew itself as fast as we are using its resources.  We must curb our appetites. In addition, we are polluting the world’s resources.  Burning fossil fuels has possibly fouled the world’s land, water and air beyond recovery.  We must find different sources of energy. The rule is simple.  If it’s not clean, we ought not to be using it.   Polluting the world is a sin against the whole human family.  We cannot say we love our neighbor and leave that neighbor with a polluted and inadequate environment.

Fourth, war is an unacceptable way of resolving conflicts between human beings.  Peacemaking is the highest calling of a devout follower of Jesus our Christ from Nazareth. I cannot even imagine Jesus in an act of violence.  The Christian warrior becomes a tragic oxymoron.

Fifth, we must become people of trust.  We need to be trustworthy, but along with that we must be willing to trust those who appear to be untrustworthy.  Trust produces trust.

THE END

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska.  His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

If the common perception of Christianity was as Pastor Bess describes it, as opposed to the now popular version of evangelical born-again, “take dominion over all even if you have to round them up and force it on them ‘c’hristianity” or you will suffer unspeakable punishment at the hands of a warlord Christ…maybe, just maybe we would be able to have intelligent conversation and successful debate on how to care for our needs in this country.

If these sanctimonious self-proclaimed masters of the “Great Commission” believed more in Bess’ Christ, and less in being Phalse Prophets for Profit…we could experience kindness rather than the intolerant hateful ‘c’hristians who call for opponents deaths through curses. Or spit on the memory of dead statesmen like the recent passing of Ted Kennedy in ugly juvenile Facebook messages on Sarah Palin’s site.

I have said it before…and I will repeat it often…these people need to quit arrogantly asking, “What Would Jesus Do?”  I don’t think they want to know the answer…

Astroturfing is a word in English describing formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous “grassroots” behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.  Astroturfing is a form of propaganda whose techniques usually consist of a few people attempting to give the impression that mass numbers of enthusiasts advocate some specific cause.

Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt (“outreach”, “awareness”, etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations, non-profits, or activist organizations.

Astroturfing has become quite common place in its use by various organizations, in particular from extreme Political Dominionist churches.  They are orchestrated to be on the watch for internet bloggers and articles that they perceive “attack” their beliefs and/or leaders.  In my case, I draw fire on all sides due to my exposure of their militant religious twisting of the Bible, their anointed Sarah, and all the admirable deeds revealed on the GOP lists I have posted about the adulterers, pedophiles, homosexuals and violent members in their God-fearing Club.

Here are a couple examples of astroturfers who are easily identifiable by the disjointed rhetoric, spelling and grammer use.

“bushgirlsgone“

You librals spin so much you must get dizzy!

Say WHAT???

What these fine people know is when Jesus our Lord and Savvier, the only living son of the Lord returns he”ll be just like a samurai. He will lift up a mighty his sword unto the Lord ” a sword better than the ones in Kill Bill 2 , heck he”ll make the Hatrai Hanso swords look like pieces of turds. Jesus will dress like a ninja and use throwing stars to smite his enemas. He”ll jump out of the shadaws just like David Carradine, except he won”t do no preverted things like what he done — he’ll go thru a room of you librals like butter snapping your necks like toothpicks. Amen.

Posted 05:07 PM on 07/18/2009

I am really attempting to understand.  But what confuses me is the outrage and paranoia of those who – 1) clearly hold nothing but disdain for homosexuals; and 2) make claims that if “Hate Crime” legislation passes into law that somehow it is THEM that will subsequently be the victims.  

The never-ending “reality-twisting” of the intolerant sectors in our society never ceases to confound me!

HEY! I have some ideas!  How about -

***  they STOP making derogatory racial and bigoted slurs against minorities?!

***  they STOP attacking harmless victims for any reason other than the color        of their skin and/or their sexuality?

***  they STOP twisting scripture from the pulpit to advance their own                    personal fears and doubts, and those in their congregation, leading to              self-loathing?  Maybe then they wouldn’t feel the need to attract others            whose self-loathing allows them to get whipped up into violent states of        frenzy culminating in attacking those they fear they are most like!             (Like…well…Ted Haggard as just ONE example)

***  they STOP judging all others and focus on their own inadequacies as                God directed us to do when He commanded that “Thou shalt love thy                neighbor as thyself.”  (Matt 12:31 KJV)

Then wouldn’t this deflate the crux of their argument?  Honestly…I want to know what their chief complaint would be if these issues were no longer a part of their equation.  After all, can someone tell when the last reported incident was of a hate inspired beating against a person exiting a late night prayer group, by a band of roving liberals?  

My suspicion?  They don’t want these factors eradicated.  The most vehement opponents to Hate Crime legislation want to continue discriminating and bashing those that they fear.  Fear because they are like them.  Fear because they are unlike them.  Either way it is a horrific UNChrist-like approach to your “neighbors”.  I will close with the wisdom of Ghandi, the epitome of a pacifist…

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”.  - Ghandi

This was sent to me by my friend Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation because he will be appearing in Harper’s Magazine in May 2009.  The following is a Press Release about the article:

Harper’s Magazine Cover Story: Evangelical Proselytization Still Rampant in U.S. Military

Under Obama Administration, Offending
Officers Continue to Serve, Promoted

ALBUQUERQUE – The May issue of Harper’s Magazine reveals the continued practice of Christian evangelical proselytization in the American military and a lack of recourse within the Obama administration, according to a leading civil rights watchdog group prominently featured in the magazine’s cover story.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation and its founder and president Mikey Weinstein were profiled by Jeff Sharlet in his piece for Harper’s Magazine, “Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military.”  Mr. Weinstein is the nation’s leading advocate for the protection of individual soldiers’ constitutional rights to religious freedom and a frequent critic of the U.S. military hierarchy’s blind eye to efforts to evolve the nation’s military into a modern day band of Christian crusaders. 

 “Every man and woman who joins our military swears an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and it is unforgiveable that many continue to dictate how, when and to whom a soldier can pray while in uniform,” said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).  “The Harper’s Magazine report by Jeff Sharlet exposes shocking new instances of bigotry and evangelical proselytization within our nation’s military that emboldens our enemies, endangers our soldiers on the battlefield and threatens the core of our country.  Equally disturbing is Mr. Sharlet’s revelation that despite President Obama’s well-publicized efforts to show the Muslim world that this is not a war against Islam, numerous offending officers and military professionals responsible for these actions continue to serve in high-ranking and influential positions, and many of them stand to be promoted.”

How can ANY person and/or group call themselves Christian and implore witchcraft by casting spells on those who do not agree with them?  The New Testament was Jesus’ message to bring love and kindness into our lives – even toward our “enemies”.  To threaten the lives and safety of Mikey and his family is nothing remotely close to WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?)

These are  Imprecatories (defined by Webster’s Dictionary: –verb (used with object), -cat⋅ed, -cat⋅ing.

“To invoke or call down evil or curses, as upon a person”

Mikey and Reverend Barry Lynn were both threatened yesterday by this issued from a former Navy CHAPLAIN!  Can’t you just FEEL the LOVE! Please read the following with care, and take them very, very seriously.  

FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN “FATWAH” ISSUED AGAINST LIVES OF MIKEY WEINSTEIN AND REV. BARRY LYNN Saturday, April 25, 2009 Listen to the “godly”, former US Navy Chaplain (and Air Force Academy graduate) Gordon Klingenschmitt pray that Mikey Weinstein’s and Rev. Barry Lynn’s “days be few.” “One-Minute Prayer: Let us pray. Almighty God, today we pray imprecatory prayers from Psalm 109 against the enemies of religious liberty, including Barry Lynn and Mikey Weinstein, who issued press releases this week attacking me personally. God, do not remain silent, for wicked men surround us and tell lies about us. We bless them, but they curse us. Therefore find them guilty, not me. Let their days be few, and replace them with Godly people. Plunder their fields, and seize their assets. Cut off their descendants, and remember their sins, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”