I've been watching CNN's series on religious warriors. It's a big hit, with over two million viewers.
My conclusion-- all of the religious fundamentalists-- these people who Christiane Amanpour characterizes as religious warriors-- are disgusting-- making war, killing, forcing others to live their way.
Joe Scarborough, mocking Amanpour's comparison of Christian parents who want their daughters to wear long skirts with taliban, jokes about how many people Jerry Falwell killed, assuming it was none.
I see it a bit differently. Falwell played a major roled in getting George Bush elected and in supporting the Iraq war, which has killed over a million people.
Then Scarborough suggests that the difference between Muslim extremists and Jewish and Christian extremists is terrorist killings.
The way I see it, all of them are intolerant and disrespectful of other religions, which makes all of them undeserving of the respect they demand. Let me be clear. I've said it before. Any religion that refuses to respect other religions' approaches to God does not deserve respect. That leaves out most of the "God's warriors" Amanpour covers.
Perhaps it is time for the masses of poeple who ARE tolerant and respectful of others' beliefs to take a stand, to speak out about the aggressive, offensive narrow-minded, intolerant Rabbis and Mullahs and Ministers who have made their money, built their power and influence by stoking mean-spirited, hateful, warmongering intolerance.
How would such a response look? How about some federal laws that treat entreaties for such approaches as illegal-- as a form of hate speech. If a minister tells his flock that he they are better, that their way is the only way, then that minister is committing a crime-- a hate crime, fomenting hate and intolerance.
If a nation forces its citizens, as a part of national law, to wear certain clothing, for religious reasons, it can't be a part of world globalization. Or maybe it would be better to put it in other ways-- if a nation forces its citizens to obey religious laws, it should not be allowed to be a part of the globalist world. Any nation can tolerate all kinds of religious rules and laws that members of the faith choose to accept and live by. The problem comes when the religious extremists attempt to force others, even resorting the religious police to force compliance, or when extremists act on their beliefs in ways that cause violent conflict, as is the case with the ultraorthodox Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
If a nation chooses to invoke religious laws, such as Sharia, they can make that choice knowing their intolerance will cost them participation in the World Trade Organization and other related globalist groups.
This planet's future depends upon cooperation and respect for differences. Those nations and cultures that refuse to acknowledge this reality will only cause more conflict, suffering and hatred. It is time for them to pay a price for their myopic holding on to the past and their toxic efforts to force their ways on the rest of the world.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
To learn more about me and OpEdNews.com, check out this article.
and there are Rob's quotes, here.
To Watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video
My radio show, The Rob Kall Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived on www.whiterosesociety.org Or listen to it streaming, live at either www.wnjc1360.com or here.
A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
Congratulations on this article. The proposed fair and middle of the road attitude that you profess makes a lot of sense to me, but i fear we are soon to become a minority.
As i watched the Muslim segment of the report, I realized that secular Muslims are now targets because they profess understanding. I find that scary.
On a side note, i would be interested to hear what others think of Christiane's reporting style, i very much enjoy it, although, as far as documentaries on Islam go, i found her "Why we Fight" piece a lot more compelling and organized.
The Jewish segment was very revealing, her attempt to put a human face on this so-complex subject was fascinating, bringing it down to the leve of personal conflicts and fears. I've blogged about my thoughts on Christiane on my blog here.
One of her best quotes, which i think is a fitting addition to your article, Rob:
“There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn’t mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing.”
Thanks, CC
by
CosmoChick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:37:47 AM
Each of the religions being profiled have their fanatics and followers. None is better or less guilty of crimes against humanity than the other.
The only way we can successfully combat them is through separation of church and state.
We must have zero tolerance for religion in government and vice versa.
One of the reasons the USA went along with all the butchery in the ME is because of religious nuts, including GWB who said "God" told him to invade Iraq. When the smoke finally clears all organized religion is going to suffer a tremendous backlash.
by
Kathlyn Stone (39 articles, 213 quicklinks, 23 diaries, 595 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:57:37 AM
Religion, and therefore “God”, has the greatest propensity of all things to be used as a weapon to segregate people, rather than to integrate humanity. It also has a great penchant, when easily distorted among the ignorant masses of people who believe in dubious dogma, the ability to bring about another tool of egocentric, esoteric warriors - the exploitation of fear. Fear is, after all, the current administration's favorite weapon of deception and methodology to subjugate and govern compliance. Faith, when transmitted to religion always turns more fateful than faithful, more hate-filled than hope-filled.
The true maliciousness and madness of religion can be seen through the annuals of history. Religion divides; religion causes hatred, judgment of others, bigotry, wars, militant activists, extremists, death, and destruction. Religion impedes progress, such as the recently, yet again, vetoing of the bill for stem cell research. There have been more people killed, maimed, and murdered in the name of religion and “God”, than for any other reason or cause in mankind’s history. These motives, above all others, are the core purpose for the rejection of apocryphal, ancient manuscripts that forces faith and fantasy to be fact and non-believers to be consequently victimized, spurned, or simply eradicated.
People of this country are bound by many different covenants, but fundamentally, we must begin to agree on placing unreserved importance on the value of the human experience – through logic, science and reasoning – and the value of individual life. The divergent that must be made is where one religion is seen as superior, and therefore somehow more deserving of a following than another, is the true burden of all organized religions.
The final awareness humanity must reach, if we are to survive, is that Man made God; God did not make Man. God is a mythological fantasy borne out of a frantic need for ancient man to rally round to explain things he did not understand. God’s continual subsistence in our limited minds today is out of an innate yearning to pacify the fear of our own mortality and errantly justice the purpose of life. The true purpose of life is to simply live it. Its purpose is not to serve an imaginary, dogmatic, all-powerful being in false hopes for an intangible, eternal salvation or supreme reward after death.
Therefore, a life spent reading legendary fables as indisputable fact, and praying to absent, fictional, archaic Gods is a life foolishly wasted. A life spent interpreting story-bound cannon, as justification to kill, is the very definition of immorality and unadulterated evil.
by
Frank J. Ranelli (63 articles, 143 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 365 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 1:34:26 PM
Especially with the comment regarding objectivity. I've always admired Amanpour, her objectivity and presentation of both sides is what journalism is all about. I am anxiously awaiting the segment tonight on Christian fundamentalism. I have long said our government appears to be equivalent to the Christian Taliban. Oh, and don't worry about being in a minority, a small group of people can, indeed, change the world, in fact, it's the only thing that ever has...
by
Judy Ramsey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 80 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 12:15:23 PM
There appears to be quite a lot of nitpicking in the reviews of this series. I had hoped that critics would give Amanpour some credit for courage. I thought her coverage of the Israel lobby in the first episode was pretty brave -- especially given that this thing is a CNN production. Wolf Blitzer must be steamed!
None of the sulky critics, all of them anxious to get Christianity and Judaism off the hook, make note that Amanpour actually approaches the issue of Islamist violence as blowback for Western (i.e., U.S.) interference in the Middle East. I wish she had explored this angle a bit further, but the fact that she raises it at all on CNN is quite significant.
I'm looking forward to the last episode tonight.
by
delia (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 112 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 12:55:13 PM
Since the beginning of time men have had a need to worship a higher power than he. It is almost ingrained in our DNA. The mentality of the fundamentalist versus the none believer is intrinsically programed from the day of birth. I noticed the young and impressionable individuals looking for ideals, tend to get highly involved in the religious sector. They know no middle road it's all the way or no way at all.
It is a shame that this day and age there still exists such extremes in beliefs and that we are fighting a war based on it. Power and money is what feeds the religious fire. They act like children I say, "my father is better than your father, or my father is the one." "This is my land not yours, so on and so on". It is all a power struggle, deep down inside it is not for the love of this so called God, but fear of it, and emptiness within the person that requires something higher than them to feel complete.
It is sad, because we are destroying one another. Religion has brain washed many and has convinced these impressionable individuals that there is a invisible man in the sky who will strike you down if you do not follow his rules, you will then go to hell where you will burn and hurt for an eternity, but yet, he love us.
For those of us who have a brain, and are secure with ourselves and life, we need to be heard, instead of fearing those frantic warriors whose bark is louder then their bite. Religion belongs in your private domain, not in politics or in the streets. I say enough is enough.
by
Mark Angelo Cummings (4 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 54 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 1:57:01 PM
"It is all a power struggle, deep down inside it is not for the love of this so called God, but fear of it, and emptiness within the person that requires something higher than them to feel complete."
This is an apt truism. Many of these people are morally and internally bankrupt. They seek out some way to find control – over their own uncontrollable lives – in an effort to fill an aching void. Much they same way an alcoholic drinks to mask his pain.
The most virulent of this morass of perverse piety use “projectionism.” People like former pastor Ted Haggard fit this definition. They wholly detest so brutally their own acts of self-perceived “perversion” – which they cannot seemingly control or understand – that they lash out through pontificating to others about renouncing the cloaked demons inside them through preaching messages to the masses of hate and prejudice, which are merely hidden, yet outspoken messages, of personal self-hatred, loathing and personal disgust.
The list of pious, holly rollers preachers, who have precipitously fallen from grace, through acts of damning duplicity and heretical hypocrisy is very long and very telling.
Somehow, we have yet to learn NOT to follow these charlatans. Perhaps Leo Strauss, one of the original teachers of neoconservatism, was correct when he suggested that man needed to hold onto a belief in a higher authority so an orderly society would exist and a need for mortal authorities could be justified, in order to govern people through control and manipulation of being “God fearing.”
“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” - Denis Diderot
by
Frank J. Ranelli (63 articles, 143 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 365 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:50:42 PM
To those of us of science, there is Organized Religion (OR) and then far apart from that, far enough that OR has declared war, Him, is God.
The "Vicar of Christ" Pope NaziGuy, Supported the New Nero/Caligula, GWB. I doubt that God did, I don't support this pope, and have stopped contributing when he got elected. Now I have made a chapel in my home and pray either in my room or there. My friends when they visit spend a few moments praying there as well.
It is hard when one's life expereince and science sees all paths leading to human empathy and all governments and OR's leading to horror, torture, death and suffering. My accurate prediction of Jerry Fallwell's death two days before the event
Displayed to those enlightened people that sometimes even God gets Pissed-off. Let's hope He stays pissed off for a while and let's the real evil-doers in Washington know how he feels about murder, torture, blasphemy, preemptive war, Capital Punishment, abortion destroying freedom and more. Meantime I am looking for honest Independent candidates.
by
Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1313 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:21:51 PM
I have been watching it also. I agree with you. In fact I believe that we should have a Constitutional Ammendment to support the seperation of Church and State, and guaranteeing
"Freedom From Religion" as well as "freedom of religion." Tolorence and freedom to practice or not to practice a religion by citizens is one of the cornerstones of the history of the United States.
Best regards,
by
Trainer12 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 49 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:38:42 PM
"it is time for the masses of people who ARE tolerant and respectful of others' beliefs to take a stand, to speak out about the aggressive, offensive narrow-minded, intolerant Rabbis and Mullahs and Ministers who have made their money, built their power and influence by stoking mean-spirited, hateful, warmongering intolerance."
Amen, which means so be it!
It is a matter of ethics and morals for moderates and progressives within their faith paths to challenge and confront the fundamentalists within.
As a Christian, I have ticked off many of my sisters and brothers in Christ by reminding them, that Jesus was NEVER a Christian; that term was not even coined until nearly three decades after he walked the earth.
The lovers of JC were once called members of The Way; being the way JC taught one should be; forgive to be forgiven, do not judge any other but judge your own heart and do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
While never a Christian, JC was a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up [intifada in Arabic] and challenged the job security of the Temple authorities by teaching the people they did not need to pay the temple priests for ritual baths and sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for God loved them just as they were; poor, diseased, outcast, prisoners, refugees, widows and orphans all living under the Roman Occupation.
What got JC crucified-and many other dissidents-was that he disturbed the status quo of the elites by teaching that Cesar only had power because God allowed it and that God preferred the poor, diseased, outcast, prisoners, refugees, widows and orphans who lived under Roman Occupation over the arrogant and proud.
“It is a matter of ethics and morals for moderates and progressives within their faith paths to challenge and confront the fundamentalists within.”
With all due respect, Eileen, it is also a matter of reason and rationale for agnostics and atheists to challenge and confront “moderates of faith” with the uncomfortable notion to some that God may indeed not exist and "ostensible moderation" may be the bedrock from which extremism is forged.
by
Frank J. Ranelli (63 articles, 143 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 365 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:59:27 PM
I usually agree with you Rob, but I'm not tolerent of religion anymore. I believe that there might be a power greater than myself, you call call him god, yehweh, yawah, or joe. However I don't believe that there is a man or woman on Earth that knows anymore about it than anyone else. It's all a big mythological game that humans play with each other to justify their beliefs and to advance their agenda. There are many well meaning folks out there that "need" a god to worship. That's a shame., but that's human nature. If religion wouldn't be used as a tool to shape people's belief systems and to lead people artound by "the soul" to commit unpardonable acts of savegery, I wouldn't have anything against it. Sadly, that is not the case. I believe in secular government for all nations. Religion should be something left to the individual, not forced down the throat of the residents of any particular country, that includes the US. All three Judeo-Christian religions are based on mythology and I can prove it. The stories about "jesus" were written 300 years before he was born. It's all a sham. The sooner people understand this, the better off the whole world would be. The same goes for muhammed. There is absolutly no factual information of his existence. We kill each other for ideas that aren't worth the paper they are printed on.
by
Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 4:37:25 PM
"There is absolutely no factual information of his existence."
Tim, I completely agree. It all falls back to Occam’s Razor, the simplest answer tends to be the best to a seemingly complex problem. What is more likely,
A) That an all-powerful, all-knowing, Supreme Being created the universe and everything in it and then left not a single shred of proof of his existence. (Creationists, don’t start with the “universe’s existence is the proof” inane theory.) Then, this pure and benevolent esoteric ruler, who apparently commands others to kill in his name from the ether, presumably loves us all. All the while, He has allowed calamity and misfortune to reign through the ages, holocausts and obscene wars to exist in perpetuity, as he simply observes from the clouds.
Or,
B) Man created God, and all the mythology that accompanies Him, so we don’t feel so alone and small in such a big place like the universe. That human beings created the fictional idea of God so our mortal lives have some dogmatic justified reason for existing, so life does not seem so fruitless or meaningless.
True believers can never be swayed, but for anyone in doubt, I would encourage a deep, long look and examination of the facts about God, gods and deities in human history. The evidence may surprise you. Start by watching the movie Zeitgeist.
“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” - Denis Diderot
-Frank J Ranelli
by
Frank J. Ranelli (63 articles, 143 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 365 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 5:24:08 PM
We will have to diverge on this issue. As I stated above, as an Atheist, faith requires proof in order for it to achieve validity and legitimacy. Often, atheists are mischaracterized as “god-haters.” I would posit that a person cannot hate something or someone it does not believe in. I do not believe in hell, therefore, I do not fear a place I believe to be fictional.
I was raised as a child to be a Christian. However, after many years of open-minded, critical-based research and review, I determined that all religions were based on a few misguided principles, which, as I discovered, are grounded in mythology and man’s need to oppress each other.
The first misguided principle is that God exists. Man has created and destroyed many, many God’s over many millenniums. There isn’t any more proof today that Allah, Jesus, or Mohammed are deities any more than Apollo or Poseidon were divine four millennia ago.
The second misguided principle of faith is that all religions grow out of some form of a cult that transforms into occultism. In turn, followers fail to examine the merits of what is being purported, thereby falling prey to unscrupulous charlatans who extort the willing of their will. These cons then proselytize and enforce credence to amass power through the embezzlement of others' ability to reason with rationality. In the end, inured and stripped of their common sense judgment, the “faithful” believe whatever they are told, without processing it to be sure it is an accurate representation of the real world around them.
Perhaps, I will finish my thoughts in an article entitled, “The Misguided Principle of Faith”, in the near future. For now, I will leave it with the premise that in the same way we no longer accept Alchemy as a truthful science, I do not accept religion as a factual principle. It is not sentimental based, but reality based. God exists in our minds because we chose (or need) for God to exist in our mortal minds.
If life was eternal and man was free of the siren calling of greed and power, God would have never been created, thereby nullifying any set of superlative laws – divine or human – in order to have order among mankind.
Best, Frank J. Ranelli
by
Frank J. Ranelli (63 articles, 143 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 365 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:25:07 PM
I was appalled when I saw this coming up, because the forces that finance these things are NOT benevolent. It's as if CNN is being used as a vehicle to inflame believers in each group even more. "Let's get the big three fighting among themselves so our group rakes in even more control, both governmental and financial. This is explained at http://GreatRedDragon.com under "Why Fundamentalism Is Wrong." It's just too long, with embedded links, to put here. I think Rob is on the right track with his essay.
by
Edward Ulysses Cate (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 217 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 7:15:18 PM
I suppose that we will have to disagree on this one. I in no way believe that Christianity is a sham or mythology. I am a Christian Democratic Socialist, and I’m quite certain that Jesus did in fact walk the earth two thousand years ago. Socialism antedated Marxism by nineteen hundred years because Jesus himself preached socialism. As a matter of fact, a good portion of my political philosophy comes from Jesus’ teachings. Come to think of it, just about every progressive reform in the US that I can recall was in some way rooted in liberal Christianity. The Social Gospel had a major impact on everything from the labor movement to the civil rights movement. The New Deal was undoubtedly influenced by liberal Christianity as well.
The liberal Baptist church that I was raised in no longer exists where I live: it was replaced by capitalist friendly Fundamentalism decades ago. Yet, I dearly miss that church, and I wish to bring it back to life. An excellent resource for liberal Christians is at www.liberalslikechrist.org
It troubles me that some people I otherwise usually agree with are hostile to religion. What do you mean that you are no longer “tolerant” of religion? Does that mean that you are not tolerant of me as well?
I hope my secular friends will focus their angst against Fundamentalism rather than religion itself. Even then though, no person or group of people can coerce Fundamentalists into becoming secular, just as they can’t force you into their way of thinking. I wish all liberal Christians would make their views more widely known though because so many people yearn to hear Jesus’ message of salvation through the Kingdom of Heaven.
by
Mark Whittington (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 20 comments)
on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 7:23:30 PM
