Catholic Church tryin' to blackmail America! Seriously!

So, some bishops are trying to hold Americans hostage about abortion. Some bishops have mouthed off that if the Freedom of Choice Act gets signed into law that Catholic hospitals will close their doors. About a third of all hospitals in America are Catholic.

And by "Catholic hospital", well, I mean that only in a narrow sense. Most of their income is actually from fees, and the federal government funds them more than the Catholic Church does through Medicare and Medicaid, not to mention grants from the federal as well as state and even local governments. So, they're only Catholic in a very vague sense. I think that's important to realize.

But the Freedom of Choice Act . . . well, no one has even tried to pass it in fifteen years. So, it's an act that doesn't really, y'know, exist, and it hasn't come before the House or Senate in any form in fifteen years, so who knows what it'll actually say? But the act would presumably force hospitals to give or refer abortions. And the Catholic Church is trying to blackmail the US government with it.

Mind you, the medical profession is already regulated. Catholic, and Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, secular, etc., hospitals are already regulated to do a large number of things if they receive public money. They can't, for instance, deny emergency services. They have to contentiously serve their patients. Stuff like that.

But because abortion is an "intrinsic evil", they feel they can threaten the US government! That they can blackmail us. Because that's what this is - a threat, blackmail.

Me? I hope they do it. I think it'll destroy Catholicism in America - which ain't doin' so well to begin with - if they try that. They love life so much that they'd close down a third of the hospitals in America, causing untold suffering, because, oh-em-gee, they might be forced to give medical services to people after receiving billions in taxpayer money.

Which is part of the key thing, here. These institutions get a lot of funding from the government. They're not private hospitals (which would likely be exempt from the FOCA, or they were as of the last draft of it, fifteen years ago). These are public institutions . . . but also religious ones?

I think that the Catholic Church shouldn't be allowed to get government money. Separation of church and state. If they want to run these hospitals as privately financed charities, they should do that. Make 'em private hospitals. Oh, but they can't afford to do that. To do what they say they want to do - help people - they receive huge amounts of money in the form of grants and Medicare and Medicaid and supplementary state and local programs. So, they want our money, but don't want to follow our laws . . . ? I think that just this threat, alone, is enough to get their non-profit status removed. It's insane that they should try to blackmail the American people!

But what strikes me as interesting is how conservative the Catholic Church has become. I can't think of a single time in my life that I've seen the Catholic Church go after anyone the way they've gone after Obama. Beyond the institutional racism in the Catholic Church (WHEN is there going to be a Latin American or African Pope?! African and Latin American Catholics are the huge bulk of Catholics!), there's been a steep rightward slant to Catholic politics for the past ten or fifteen years. Once viewed as being a center-left organization, now it's basically an all out right-wing organization. While giving tepid statements about how global climate change and war are bad and should be worked against, while very lightly castigating corporate capitalism, the Catholic Church doesn't do anything about any of those things. You don't see Catholic bishops threatening to excommunicate soldiers who work with nuclear weapons (also intrinsic evil) or who fight in illegal and immoral wars, or who serve greedy, soul-destroying corporations that are plundering the wealth of the world - but with abortion you've got these right-wing reactionary bishops threatening to close a third of all hospitals in America and trying to blackmail the American government. Wow. Which really tells a person where their priorities are, huh? War in Iraq? Well, they can work with that. Having to refer abortions? Intrinsic evil and they're willing to blackmail the US government over it!

More on Catholic Rape Insurance Scandal!

An LJ friend said that perhaps the insurance that covered the child rape might be an horrible mistake on the insurer's part. That the Catholic Church had a general liability policy that just happened to cover children being raped by priests, too, though unintentionally.

I didn't think so, because the way that I understood it, after a certain time period elapsed the insurer could cancel coverage -- insurance companies generally leave the option over to drop coverage. But I thought it was a good question. Does the Catholic Church have liability insurance to specifically cover sexual abuse?

Well, amusing things first. When you google "catholic church and rape liability" my own article is what comes up. Yay, me, I guess. But you find some other stuff, too, such as this Slate article. Allow me to quote:

Since the spike in sex-abuse lawsuits in the mid-1980s, churches have also had the option to take out extra liability policies for damages related to sexual misconduct. These policies don't come cheap, and they protect just the institutions, for the most part. Insurers will mount a legal defense for accused individuals, but the support extends only so far: Perpetrators are on their own if they're found guilty or choose to settle out of court.

But insurance companies created these abuse-specific policies only after the lawsuits of the mid-80s forced them to make large payouts. Until then, general liability policies didn't specifically rule out sex abuse, so churches that needed to pay damages argued that insurers should pay. Thus, even though sex-abuse insurance is available today, many of the big payouts actually come from the churches' general policies, since the abuse happened decades ago. (The Los Angeles settlement probably came out of these general policies.)

So, according to Slate, we were both right. Initially, sex abuse of this nature was paid for out of general liability policies, but nowadays people can get sex abuse policies. Churches do get them. The Slate article has some specifics, even -- say, $100 a year for a small church with a single pastor, or $6,000 a year for a big church with a day care center. The average liability covered is $100,000.

It also mentions that the Catholic Church has it's own insurance company, Catholic Mutual, and half of the Catholic churches in America get their insurance through this system. Take that as you will.

The article ends up mentioning that many of the archdioceses that face these settlements are, nevertheless, facing bankruptcy due to the large payouts. Take that, too, as you will, but for me it feels very insufficient given the extreme and systematic nature of the crimes, but I believe in both corporate death penalties (the government seizing corporate assets if the corporation obviously and systematically is corrupt, as determined by a court of law) and I believe in treating religious organizations no differently than secular ones.

Post-script: Here's another article about the Catholic church's rape and insurance scandal, and a hat tip to Symboid for bringing it to my attention. One of the things it does is point out that Catholicism is hardly alone in the sex abuse cover-ups, but let's have a quote:

These types of policies started coming into existence after the court case Hanover Insurance Co. vs. Crocker in the 1980s. In the case, Mrs. Crocker's husband was accused of the sexual abuse of a child. She was aware of the abuse but neglected to report it to the authorities. She was charged with neglect, but her lawyer found a loophole in her homeowner's insurance policy that the court ruled to be an indication that the insurance company was responsible for covering her monetary settlement.

So now we have sexual abuse insurance coverage? These types of insurance policies are like a slap in the face to the victims. I understand that they are a smart move for businesses to take advantage of in case an employee gets into that kind of unforgivable trouble, but the mere fact that they exist holds to the idea that these types of offenses can be settled by the stroke of an insurance executive's pen on a checkbook.

I agree it's a slap in the face to the victims.

Child Rape, the Catholic Church and Six Hundred and Sixty Million Dollars

As I have been repeatedly told in the not too recent past, the Catholic Church is the one, true church of Christ and all the rest are defective. Well, the one, true church of Jesus Christ is paying out six hundred and sixty million dollars because it's one, true priests raped children in an out of court settlement designed to protect the church from the public testimony of their victims, not to mention the way that the Catholic Church covered up child raping priests for decades and has done everything in their power to stymie bringing the attackers to criminal court. All of that is disgusting enough, and one would think demonstrates the absurdity of Christian institutions saying they have some sort of moral superiority, or that their people are somehow elect or blessed or that some benevolent god works through them -- their church is a haven for pedophiles and, institutionally, the Catholic Church has covered up their crimes. (If some Protestants out there are gonna point the finger at Catholics, don't. Protestant churches are just as bad, it's just that the Catholics are the biggest target and most clearly represent this sort of thing because of the sheer size of the Catholic Church.) Like I said, that's all disgusting enough, but my purpose here isn't simply to bash Christians for their manifest hypocrisy, or goad them into talking on this blog so we can see the double-talk they use to justify why so obviously a corrupt institution as the Catholic Church can, nevertheless, be the special receptacle for Jehovah's divine and benevolent grace.

No, no, I want to bring something else up. The article about the settlement has a couple of interesting lines. The first:

The archdiocese, the nation’s largest, will pay $250 million, insurance carriers will pay a combined $227 million.

It's a short quote,but I wanted it to stand out a little bit. Here's the other one that I found fascinating:

The deal settles all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in December to settle 45 cases that weren’t covered by sexual abuse insurance.

The key words there, for me, are insurance and, then, sexual abuse insurance. The Catholic Church in LA has . . . sexual abuse insurance. Sexual abuse insurance.

This is wrong on so many different levels I really don't know where to start . . . but after grappling with it, I came down to two things that really bake my noodle. The first is that you can buy sexual abuse insurance. The second is that someone actually bought sexual abuse insurance.

This is just killing me. That there are companies -- no, no, companies do nothing, there are people who said, "Oh, yeah, we're willing to give you liability coverage in case someone in your institution rapes children. We're comfortable making a profit off of helping your institution protect itself from punishments you'd get from systematic child abuse on a monstrous scale and your morally indefensible cover-ups of these crimes." I mean, even beyond the legality of something like this, the simple morality of it. Some people, and probably a group of people, decided that, yes, it is okay to make money protecting institutions from their systematic child molestation. This boggles my mind.

The second part of my near death experience is that the Catholic Church sought out this kind of insurance. You only get insurance against events you think might actually happen, and we know with the same certainty that the sun sets in the west that priests are, in the course of time, going to rape little children -- and one of their techniques of handling this abuse is to . . . get insurance to cover it. It is so cynical and does nothing to address the problem of why the Catholic Church is such a haven for this kind of abuse. Much less doing something to stop it.

And, lastly, when I was talking about this with a guy, when I pointed out the horror of child rape insurance, I was stunned to find that at least some people -- regular people off the streets -- would defend the existence of child rape insurance. It is, I was told, merely a form of liability insurance. The person I spoke with likened it to liability insurance if someone fell on some steps in front of the church, which is where my brain broke, again. That the widespread rape and systematic cover-up of these rapes was being seriously likened to a priest failing to sweep all the snow off the steps in front of a church. Over and above the existence of liability insurance -- which I am no fan of, I think that all insurance companies should be shut down and insurance should be honestly public -- I was totally mind-fried by the idea that a real person would seriously liken widespread child rape and its cover-up to falling down some stairs.

Anyway, that's my rant. My mind is temporarily broken. My next bit will be a rather interesting bit about science and the evolution of intelligence that might actually be semi-original, but I need to check some facts, first.

Pope Rat Strikes Again!

I love Pope Rat. I really do. He's doing more to destroy the Catholic Church than a legion of atheists parked out in front of St. Peter's will for twenty years, I kid you not.

It appears that Pope Rat is asserting the primacy of Catholic churches. This is so special and dear that I must quote:

Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

He just set back reconciliation between Catholicism and other Christian demonimations fifty years! All other Christian churches are either defective or not true churches. Classic! I couldn't do this kind of damage to Catholicism my whole life!

Here's some more:

"Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document. The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession - the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles, it said.

Isn't that great? I think it's great. I love Pope Rat.

Aliens and Weak-Minded Fools

More mail! In my blog, my readers know, I focus on religions and, particularly, Christianity. It isn't that I think that Christianity is particularly bad as religions go. Put in cultural context, I feel it's better than Islam and Hinduism, really. I know that it's because of cultural context -- that when Christians could get away with the shit Muslims and Hindus get away with they certainly did. I know that Christianity was stopped from all the murderous excesses that one sees in other religions. Christians wiped out a third of Germany and people said that maybe religious power and religious choice shouldn't be quite so important and worked to rein in the power of religion, over Christian protestations.

But, that said, there are other weird things going on in the world and because of my blog and YouTube, I occasionally get to contact them. Like . . . Truthism. Alas, it doesn't appear to have any relationship whatsoever to truthiness. And the author of the site assures the reader again and again that the site is "real" and not a hoax or humor.

And then it gets into the meat with this little snatch of quotable material:

Truthism 101: Matrix Basics

For those of you who have been asleep your
entire lives, here are some basic things about
reality that you just might want to catch up on

We snap straight into it! You've been asleep your whole life and there are basic things you need to catch up on. Slacker! If you were as smart at the Truthism.com guy you wouldn't be caught with your pants down!

From there, there is an amusing section with these headers: "How Human Beings Deny the Truth", "What the Truth is Not", "The Great Contradictions of You So-called Rationalists", "Officialdom", "Your Ego" and "Morality". The author says some things that are utterly true. It is true that humans often do deny the truth for a variety of reasons and they sometimes do blow off the truth as being funny, hilarious, entertaining, or call people who force uncomfortable truths as mad, illogical and self-absorbed. It is true, too, that the truth is not always popular, easy to swallow or socially acceptable. Without doubt it is true that the winners write the history books and they do so with an eye to promoting their own actions and culture as superior. Likewise, no historian I know doubts that a person's ego can sometimes make it impossible to see a truth that goes against their most inherently held beliefs. And, I think it is obvious that those in power do, in fact, often possess an extremely stunted moral sense.

However, that doesn't mean that any idea that is funny is therefore true. It doesn't mean a crazy, illogical, self-absorbed person is therefore right. Just because something is unpopular doesn't make it so.

But this part is so dear, I'll quote it:

You do not have access to Top Secret government information or to Top Secret government facilities. Nor are you a member of any of Earth's secret societies. In addition, you were not born 5,000 years ago; you were born only within the last 100 years, so you were not able to see history unfold with your own eyes.

Yet, despite all of these undeniable facts, you claim that you already know what the truth is. That is, just like how you know for a fact that 1+1=2, you also claim that you know for a fact what the truth is. So, um, how the hell is that possible???

But the author does have access to Top Secret government information and facilities? He's a member of earth's secret societies? He's five thousand years old and has watched history unfold before his eyes? Somehow, I doubt it. But he goes on to claim that we're all just brainwashed by authority figures and dupes of the global conspiracies that run the world.

Yes, he's a conspiracy theorist. The earth is ruled by the governing elite that constructed the Pyramids in Egypt. They got this knowledge from the Anunnaki, or reptilian aliens who genetically modified humans thousands of years ago to serve as their slaves. The "Reptilians" have indoctrinated us so completely that we are too "weak-minded" to fathom that they exist. Fortunately, we don't have to! We have Truthism.com to do that for us!

Still, there are some gems:

Strangely enough, though, here on Earth, the concept of an imaginary god is perfectly acceptable, and is by no means considered to be the "ultimate crazy fantasy." Yet, the concept of aliens is taboo, and is ultra-ridiculed by society in a freakish "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil"-type fashion.

This is, I think, true. Of course, on my blog, the concept of an imaginary god isn't terribly acceptable. I'm an atheist. It is the ultimate crazy fantasy, even crazier, really, than this stuff because it has been accepted by billions for thousands of years, and has shaped our society in innumerable ways. Still, I think that the idea that humans were genetically adapted by aliens to be almost equally fraudulent. Where's the proof? So far, Truthism.com has given absolutely no logical or physical evidence for the existence of DNA uplifting space aliens.

I actually find it easy to believe there are other intelligent life in the universe. Heck, I'm willing to believe that intelligent life out there in the universe would consider us to be woefully stupid and backwards (just like I suspect that in a thousand years we'll look back and say how woefully stupid and backwards we were). I accept that possibility, that the universe is big and it seems increasingly likely that the conditions for earth-style life are pretty common. Amino acids and terrestrial planets seem to litter the galaxy. But from that vague belief that aliens might exist, and there is no compelling reason at least some of them wouldn't be more technologically sophisticated than we are and might have come to this planet in times past for a variety of purposes.

However, even if they did come to earth for our resources -- which is unlikely, by the way except for our biological resources -- they would have come here with the full technological weight of an advanced space faring civilization. It is impossible, of course, to imagine what their technology would look like . . . except it would have to be far superior to our own requiring them to be able to build generation ships, or accelerate to a very high fraction of light speed (well over 99%), or to travel faster than light speed (my money is on the middle one -- generation ships would be too subjectively slow to make broad exploration of the galaxy possible and the is, I would think, be too energy costly for general use . . . tho' I could be wrong). Whatever the option, their technology would make ours look primitive in comparison. And it would probably be pretty . . . weird. We're getting there, ourselves. What will, in the fullness of time, be done with biotechnology, cybernetics and nanotechnology? All good questions. But it's likely to be weird and in ways that fundamentally change the definition of humanity. While it is not possible to know what alien technology would look like, if they're to the point where they're exploring the universe they're past the point where they'd have to answer these sorts of questions. However, it would be highly unlikely that aliens, on arriving on earth, would spend too much time making apes to do their work. Far more likely that they'd bring their robot legions with them to do it.

Moreover, alien intervention on that scale would leave traces behind, and more than just human life. We can see this from our own colonization efforts. When a technologically superior people invade or colonize a place, they bring with their their tools and techniques. So, when the Spaniards invaded Mexico they swiftly built things in the Spanish style. When Americans during WWII landed on Polynesian islands to build air bases, they left behind asphalt runways and concrete bunkers. While they might build with local materials, they do so in a technologically sophisticated style and leave behind durable examples of their presence.

So, where are the 5000 year old steel-reinforced concrete bunkers, or refined aluminum or titanium-steel beams? No. What we have are pyramids. Despite the fact that a pyramid is, at the end of the day, just a mound of stones we're expected to believe that this is the paragon of alien engineering on earth. It's childish to say that obvious neolithic construction techniques were inspired by aliens, especially when no durable proof of alien existence has been found.

My favorite "proof" is the neolithic carvings and drawings, like this one:



Aliens arrived in ships that looked like . . . Buck Rogers spaceships? The "proof" is also in the form of jewelry and the like from Pre-Columbian America that looks vaguely like delta winged jet fighters. This is not proof, of course, of aliens -- any more than modern sci-fi art of space ships is proof of alien space ships. It's fascinating how they'll take a little bit of data and stretch and twist it to fit their preconceived notions. It reminds me of . . . religious people!

Really, it seems to me that in the end that the alien/conspiracy people are driven by many of the same impulses as religious people -- they just have made a slightly more plausible sounding argument insofar that it doesn't require any supernatural agency. But when you ask for proof, they do pretty much the precise same thing that theists do and take little dots of data and stretch them to encompass their entire bizarre theory while completely ignoring or ridiculing those that point out that 1. their theory is bizarre and 2. there is no real proof for it. Like with religion, they'll misinterpret or give specious interpretations of limited data while using arguments identical to the god of the gaps reasoning saying that the real evidence is out there but that we're unable to see it due to our weak-mindedness because of alien indoctrination. Which seems the same to me as saying that I'd see god, too, if not for my sin-induced weakness and the indoctrination of Satan.

Still, I do get some interesting emails, these days!

A Bigger Dose of Prophesy

I ended up in the prophesy room today, after all. It was a combination of creepy and boring. So, in most of the ways that count, it was just like reading the Bible . . . which far worse spelling and grammar. I copied down three of the very underwhelming "prophesies". Before the first prophesy, there was literally around forty minutes of people praising Jesus. It was very tedious. It went something like this:

[19:34] we worship you Lord
[19:34] YOU ALONE
[19:34] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> lord god almighty
[19:34] it is all about YOU
[19:34] U r soooooooo worthy
[19:34] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> heaven and earth
[19:34] of our praises
[19:34] Jesus

Imagine that for forty minutes, now. My guess is that they were trying to whip themselves up into enough of a frenzy not to feel stupid with their prophesies. I'm going to give you the ones I got. I'm not going to alter them at all. I decided that the disjointed nature, with the interruptions of various praises, is an integral part of the prophesy. After the prophesy, I'm going to make a few comments and then move on.

[19:36] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> Tiffany go please
[19:36] thankyou...
[19:36] as I was seeking the Lord just now I saw a vision...
[19:37] * Gayle (JavaUser@AC932872.ipt.aol.com) has joined #prophetic-school
[19:37] and in the vision I saw a green field...
[19:37] with many hills...
[19:37] * HeavenlyTreasure (HT@S010600104c136565.ed.shawcable.net) has joined #prophetic-school
[19:37] and spread throughout this field...
[19:37] I saw crosses laying everywhere....
[19:37] looked as though they had been abandoned...
[19:37] and I saw a company of eagles flying overhead...
[19:37] observing the situation...
[19:37] calling out...
[19:37] and seeking out...
[19:37] * erica (JavaUser@adsl-243-202-226.cae.bellsouth.net) Quit ( QUIT: User exited )
[19:37] those who would come and carry those crosses
[19:38] and as the cries were heard loud and strong...
[19:38] I saw people....
[19:38] numerous people...
[19:38] as far as the eye could see...
[19:38] coming out from under rocks...
[19:38] out from hiding...
[19:38] they come out from the valleys...
[19:38] came from the mountains...
[19:38] some looked weary...
[19:38] some looked beaten...
[19:38] and some were obviously in the midst of the battle...
[19:39] ??
[19:39] and each one had slowly walked up to a cross...
[19:39] through it on their shoulders...
[19:39] and began walking....
[19:39] for this night declares the Lord...
[19:39] even this very night...
[19:39] My call is going out...
[19:39] My call is being heard.....
[19:39] calling out to all who has an ear to hear....
[19:39] come out from among them
[19:39] \o/
[19:39] and be ye separate....
[19:39] Thank u Jesus /PTL \o/
[19:40] take up your crosses....
[19:40] take up your crosses...
[19:40] and resume your positions....
[19:40] the time is now....
[19:40] the past is over....
[19:40] do not look behind...
[19:40] look only ahead...
[19:40] and as you step up to your posts...
[19:40] step up to your positions....
[19:40] the past will soon
[19:40] become a distant memory...
[19:40] * michael_calif1 (JavaUser@cpe-75-85-230-59.bak.res.rr.com) has joined #prophetic-school
[19:40] \o/
[19:40] for where there was mourning...
[19:40] I am giving joy....
[19:41] where there was sorrow....
[19:41] rejoicing....
[19:41] weeping... laughter....
[19:41] Thank u Jesus
[19:41] for I am restoring you
[19:41] I am rebuilding you
[19:41] \o/
[19:41] I am rebirthing within you
[19:37] calling out...
[19:37] and seeking out...
[19:41] that ministry that I placed within you
[19:41] years ago....
[19:41] come up higher my dear children
[19:41] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> yes lord
[19:41] my servants, and my warriors....
[19:41] and as you do.....
[19:41] you shall see the salvation of the Lord!
[19:41] done
[19:41] \o/
[19:42] \o/\o/\o/
[19:42] thank you Jesus
[19:42] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> Amen!!! Thank you, Tiffany God bless you
[19:42] hallelujah
[19:42] hallelujah
[19:42] Amen, Praise the LORD
[19:42] Praise His Name
[19:42] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> anymore words 4 the room?
[19:42] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> o/tag
[19:42] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> for i ur god

As "prophesies" go, this one feels pretty contrived, without the least little bit of evocative imagery. I mean, really! Crosses scattered around and people go up to them pointing to ministry? What I do think is interesting is the persecution complex that seems built into religion. I think I just realized that a persecution complex is built into Christianity. What distinguishes Jesus is precisely his persecution. So here you've got these reasonably well-off (well-off enough to have computers and Internet connections, which most of the world simply can't afford) and their minds are filled with this apocalyptic imagery with themselves as the suffers in a hostile world . . . when they're amongst the most privileged group of people who have ever lived.

Unfortunately, it isn't close to being prophesy, even if it was a vision. Which I doubt it was, more like a prose poem. But, onwards!

[19:48] I saw the Lord placing in the hands of many of you hear tonight....
[19:48] a jewel.....
[19:48] and others a coal....
[19:48] for there are those of you who are called to carry his treasure as a jewel.....
[19:49] and from you will flow secret treasures.....
[19:49] healing....
[19:49] comfort.....
[19:49] edification.....
[19:49] encouragement.....
[19:49] the My people.....
[19:49] you shall take this jewel
[19:49] into a lost and dying world...
[19:49] and bring hope to the hopeless
[19:49] rest to the weary
[19:50] and for those who received the coals....
[19:50] behold you are my prophets...
[19:50] * cityofgold (JavaUser@213-180-30.netrunf.cytanet.com.cy) has joined #prophetic-school
[19:50] you are called to speak forth My word....
[19:50] and carry My word as a sword...
[19:50] for as you open your mouths to speak
[19:50] My word will flow forth as a mighty sword....
[19:50] and you shall teach others to use their sword.....
[19:50] * preciouspearl (JavaUser@dialup-4.239.102.233.Dial1.Philadelphia1.Level3. net) has joined #prophetic-school
[19:50] you shall instruct, direct, and correct....
[19:50] for a fire shall fill you
[19:51] and spread to all those around you...
[19:51] a flaming sword shall you possess....
[19:51] You shall speak my word with clarity....
[19:51] You shall speak my word with sharpness...
[19:51] and you shall set the captives free!
[19:51] each of you are called....
[19:51] \o/
[19:51] every one of you are called....
[19:51] listen not to the lies of man
[19:52] or the lies of the enemy
[19:52] AMen
[19:52] o/ testimony that sort of goes along with the words
[19:52] who would try to stop My servants
[19:52] from speaking forth my Word....
[19:52] and I saw to you this night
[19:52] even declare
[19:52] that you are MY servants
[19:52] called by My name....
[19:52] who is man to stand in the way
[19:52] * Guest35202 is now known as ConsidertheLily
[19:52] who is man to contradict what I have spoken over your lives....
[19:52] you can't figure it out...
[19:52] you will not understand the call
[19:53] or the responsibility I have placed within you
[19:53] but as you rise up and walk in that which I have called you to walk....
[19:53] your understanding will be made clear
[19:53] step by step
[19:53] line upon line
[19:53] precept upon precept....
[19:53] do not hesitate
[19:53] once I have spoken....
[19:53] you know My voice...
[19:53] \o/
[19:53] hearken this day
[19:53] \o/
[19:53] to the voice of the Lord
[19:53] done
[19:53] o/heavenlytreasure
[19:53] * Guest56420 (JavaUser@mctnnbsa30w-156034037238.nb.aliant.net) has left #prophetic-school
[19:53] Jesus, Jesus, glorryyyy
[19:54] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> Amen!!! Thank you, Tiffany God bless you
[19:54] Thank u Jesus
[19:54] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> wonderful jesus
[19:54] yessss

Again, this isn't prophesy, really. It's not predicting or foretelling anything. But what struck me, here, is the symbols used. First, the symbols of wealth, pearls and jewels. We'll see them again, too. It is interesting for as poor a person as Jesus seemed to be, and that he was quite critical of material wealth, one of the most common Christians symbols are those of riches. Second, the symbol of the sword. After all that Christianity is supposed to be a religion of poverty and peace, there's a lot of talk about swords!

But, again, I find myself filled with disappointment. The imagery and message are tedious. I mean, the deep wisdom of this prophesy is that some people are called to do good deeds in the name of the Christian god? Not precisely a thrilling new message, there.

[19:54] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> shepherd go please
[19:54] I had this remarkable 3+ hour vision this evening. I only came out of it about 20 minutes ago. The glory is still partly on me.
[19:54] One of the things that happened in the vision was that I got to meet Moses and I asked him how he was able to trust God in all those situations
[19:55] he said he would show me
[19:55] then he took me by the hand and brought me to the tabrinacle
[19:55] and he told me that the glory of the Lord would meet us there.
[19:55] At first I was very mindful of Moses--he is one of my heros ofthe faith and someone I really relate to and look up to
[19:55] but when God showed up...
[19:56] well, I got so lost in God's goodness that I totally forgot about Moses
[19:56] and the glory of the Lord saturated me
[19:56] and it ws amazing
[19:56] He spoke to me about a lot of things, but the gist of the coversation is that He is actually much easier to please than we tend to think He is
[19:57] all we have to do is come before HIm with pure hearts, hungry for Him
[19:57] we don't have to be perfected yet, just yeilded and willing to cooperate with HIm
[19:57] amen
[19:57] * warriorintheSpirit (JavaUser@66-112-81-130.dyn.centurytel.net) has joined #prophetic-school
[19:57] * Kathe is now known as Kathe_afk
[19:57] God's glory saturated me
[19:57] yes, amen
[19:57] and it was ovewhelmeing beyond words
[19:57] \o/
[19:57] At one point He showed me this pearl
[19:57] \o/
[19:57] it gistened and glimmered and radiated His glory
[19:58] and I knew it was the pearl of great price
[19:58] and God asked me if I would like to have it
[19:58] of course, I said yes
[19:58] Instead of handing it to me, he began to place it on my forehead.
[19:58] I was surprised, because I expected Him to put it in my hand
[19:58] I did not say a word--but I did not have to because God hears our thoughts
[19:59] so He asked me, WOuld you like to hold it?
[19:59] I said yes
[19:59] and He told me to put out my hand and he placed in it my hand
[19:59] and I could feel energy radiating out of the pearl and it seemed to be vibrating
[19:59] the best I can describe it was that it was alive with God's presence and radiated His glory
[19:59] and I stood here holding it and looking at it
[20:00] then God asked me, "Teresa, how will you be able to carry this without loosing it for the rest of your life?"
[20:00] I realized that he meant I might drop it or put it down
[20:00] that it was a wonderful treasure, but there was no way I could go about holding it
[20:00] * warriorintheSpirit (JavaUser@66-112-81-130.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit ( Connection reset by peer )
[20:00] and still living my life
[20:01] then He asked me if I would like Him to take care of it--to attach it to me so I never lost it
[20:01] I said yes.
[20:01] He asked me to hand the pearl back to Him and I did
[20:01] and then He took it and placed it on my forehead
[20:01] and he pushed gently and it went inside of Me
[20:01] \o/
[20:02] and He said that now I would never loose it because He put it where it belonged
[20:02] and the application that God is showing me is that a times we try to hold on to the things of the kingdom that we value
[20:02] --- ministries, relationships, possessions, anointings, etc
[20:02] but we are not capable of carrying them
[20:03] we are not capable of being in charge of them
[20:03] * Davidicdancer (JavaUser@pool-71-123-6-84.austtx.dsl-w.verizon.net) has joined #prophetic-school
[20:03] the only way to keep them is to put them back in God's hands and let Him
[20:03] be in charge of them
[20:03] The vision went on
[20:03] I won't bore you with all the details
[20:03] but near the end of the vision I was aware of Moses watched me with pleased interest
[20:04] and I felt bad that I'd ignored him to pay attention to God
[20:04] and Moses told me that was the way it was supposed to be
[20:04] o/ tag
[20:04] and then he asked me if I undestood his answer to my question
[20:04] * derek (JavaUser@OV2-109.aircanopy.net) has joined #prophetic-school
[20:04] I had to think back and concentrate to figure out what the origial question had been
[20:05] It had been how to trust God in ministry when so many things go wrong as you lead
[20:05] and then he better explained the answer
[20:05] the key to trusting God is being in His presence and being staturated by im
[20:05] Him
[20:05] It is getting to know HIm so well that it is no longer a "mental" thing to trust God but an experiencial one
[20:06] when you expereince God's faithfulness enough times, it becomes engrained in you that He is faithful
[20:06] amen
[20:06] and then it is easy to trust Him
[20:06] yes
[20:06] <@hugsfromtheMASTER> \o/
[20:06] yes
[20:06] \o/

This one is my favorite. What makes it my favorite? Allow me to summarize. This woman is next to Jehovah and she's hungry for him, to be saturated by him, and Jehovah, well, he has this throbbing pearl of power, and the woman really wants it, so Jehovah sticks it in her and she's filled with glory even twenty minutes after it was over. I see!

But, again, the actual message is . . . I mean, the message is that the Christian god doesn't care if you're not perfect, you've just got to accept Jesus, and then everything will be fine. The fairly intense sexual innuendo aside, the message is cut straight from the Bible and traditional Christian wisdom.

Indeed, all the messages were very normal, very traditional things that Christians say to each other. Biblical prophets, on the other hand, often are disbelieved and suffer because of their prophesy, because what they're saying are highly controversial things. This is quite the opposite of controversial. It's the lowest common denominator. What Christian is going to say that Jesus doesn't call people to ministry or that the Christian god is willing to forgive people who go to him?

I can also fairly confidentially call the guy who sent it to me full of shit, now, too. This is his miracle? I would say it's just a tawdry trick, but there isn't even a trick to it. It's just people writing Christian platitudes, and writing them poorly, at that. This is not a miracle. I could easily produce one of these prophesies -- and, indeed, produce a far superior one. I think I shall:

I was standing at the foot of a path that lead up a great hill, and I felt the presence of the Lord behind me. I was with my brother, but I knew that he wanted to do me some wrong. Lightning struck a tree atop the hill, and a ball of flame descended upon me, but a sheet of rain fell and the fire went around me and I was not touched, for I did not fear because the Lord was with me. My brother was consumed by the flames, because he had not trusted in the Lord, and the Lord was not with him. And the Lord lead me up the hill, and on the other side was paradise. Those who trust in the Lord will be saved, those who are not will surely be cast into flames.

I think I'm ready for the big time!

A Touch of Prophesy

So, I went briefly into the prophesy IRC room that I was told about for a few minutes. Then I realized that to stay there would absorb me with a while, so I got out because I have other things to do. Yet, I have a brief update!

So, for a while there was nothing but the sort of idle chatter a person could see in any chat room. Then this little exchange:

[17:23] where were you born?
[17:23] just curious
[17:23] orignally Oregon
[17:23] oh ok
[17:23] born and raised there?
[17:23] where are u now nancy??
[17:23] for about 6mo
[17:23] now I wasnt raised there.. just born
[17:24] I was sent to CA to Los Angeles City of Hope Hospital to see if they could save me
[17:24] they couldnt
[17:24] so Jesus did
[17:24] amen Nancy
[17:25] was very sick as a newborn.. pnuemia, partially collasped lung and my heart was attacked
[17:25] PTL Nancy
[17:25] but Jesus saved me anyways
[17:25] well he must have a purpose for you

So, here we have some of the arrogance of Christians jumping straight to the forefront. As an infant, apparently, Nancy was sickly and didn't die. Does she attribute this to City of Hope? No. But Jesus. OK, then, what Chuckles the Clown says is even more interesting, to me. That because Nancy was "saved" by Jesus -- an assertion for which proof is neither offered nor required -- Jesus must have a purpose for Mary. God himself is validating Mary's existence!

It goes on:

[17:25] you a miracle huh Nancy
[17:25] :)
[17:25] amen I do I really really do.. with all my heart!
[17:25] Passing Storm.. yes one of them documented ones
[17:26] although I still struggles with weakness's
[17:26] the Lord anoints me for the plans and purposes and the missions He sends me on
[17:26] to do in His Name
[17:26] the only thing is I dont much like when that anointing lifts
[17:27] it takes me days sometimes a week or more to get some strength in my being
[17:27] or until the Lord sends me again
[17:27] wow what a testiomony Nancy
[17:27] pretty much, He's my breath.. for real.. He's my heart beat.. for reals
[17:27] He's my strength.. definately for reals
[17:27] keeps me close to Him

Again, all of this is offered up with neither proof nor even the need of proof. The credulity is staggering. No one seemed the slightest bit concerned that this story might be untrue, it was just assumed that the person was speaking the truth and something that is probably entirely mundane is proof of supernatural agency acting in the world . . . and that what is probably mundane is a special purpose that the person serves to their god. I am wondering, as I write this, if I could make all sorts of outrageous claims and be believed. I suspect so.

Practicing Prophesy

So, uh, I just got the weirdest email. I do a fair bit of video commentary on YouTube. It only takes a few minutes to do and, as my offline friends will certainly attest, I like the sound of my own voice. So, I commented on something and this fella and I were going back and forth about god and free will, pretty boilerplate stuff, when the guy said that he believed in god because of the miracles he'd seen. He specifically said he's seen someone's legs healed instantly (which is very close to healing an amputee) and he had personally spoken to god. Well, I got out of the discussion because it's one of those things that put me in the position of either saying, "Dood, you're a complete fucking liar fruitcake or insane" or shutting up, so I shut up.

Well, I just got an email from this person. He has invited me into an IRC room where they practice prophesy. Where they practice prophesy!

I just wish I'd gotten this before I started to write Simon Peter! Curse this bad timing! Still, I'm absolutely fascinated at the idea of this IRC channel of prophesy. Utterly fascinated. So, hey, y'all will get to see me post on it ere long.

Liberty U Student with Firebombs!

Holy shit! A Liberty University student was stopped with Molotov cocktails in his car, which he planned to use to "stop protests" at Falwell's funeral! There are, it seems, at least three other suspects, too - it's a conspiracy to burn protesters alive.

Somehow, I doubt he'll be treated under the Patriot Act as a terrorists. It's only brown non-Christians who want to firebomb protests that are terrorists, right?

(Via SLOG)

Notes on Other Religions

I was requested to talk about religions other than Christianity. It is pretty hard to do, for me! There are reasons - and I think they're good reasons - why I devote most of my religious talk to Christianity. Christianity is the dominate religion in the United States, and amounts to a state religion, here. I mean, we get off several of the major Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas and do not give the same level of regard for any other religion. The second big reason is that, globally, Christianity is the most powerful religion, with fully 1 in 3 people at last nominally Christian. Additionally, when you look at the powerful, wealthy nations of the world, they are dominated by at least nominally Christian nations. So, locally, nationally and globally, there are a lot of good reasons for me to talk about Christianity.

I admit a certain hesitation with talking about Islam, to avoid the appearance of racism. Oh, I think that Islam is at least as bad as Christianity. Is the organized, industrialized viciousness of Christianity better or worse than the Islamic suicide bombing terrorism? That's a moral question that's too thorny for me to answer, but I am certain that both religions, even in their more moderate forms, constitute support structures for the militaristic factions that are doing their dead level best to plunge the whole world into murderous chaos. However, from about the Battle of Lepanto onwards (that was in 1571), the onus of exploitation has largely gone from Christian nations into Muslim nations, and certain from the time of Peter the Great and the Great Northern War (say, 1700) it has been almost entirely one way. In the past century or so, the US has been a prime player in the exploitation of Islamic nations, through colonial and capitalist imperialism. On whole, unless you want to start talking about events that happened before the 16th century, Islamic nations and people have been largely subject to all manner of imperialism from Christian countries.

That makes me hesitant, as a member of the Christian country that is most involved with imperialism in the Middle East at the present time, to take an unnuanced a view of Islam, rather than criticizing specific events, people, governments, etc. That said, I think that Islam is at least as filthy a religion as Christianity, at least as oppressive (though Muslims tend to oppress their own people far more than Christian nations do - Christians tend to export their exploitation, often to Muslim nations), murderous and altogether as stupid.

I don't talk about Hinduism because it's a hard beast to cage. I am not knowledgeable enough about Hinduism to meaningfully talk theologically about it on this blog, I feel. From what I know, however, maybe I should talk more about it. Unknown to most people, in India there is essentially a low level civil war going on between militant Muslims and at least equally militant Hindus. There's a kind of Hindu extremism that is flatly as fascist as anything that the West has ever produced. We're talking about Dr. Strangelove levels of whackiness: Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Jana Krishanmurthy blithely dismissed war with Pakistan as being able winnable because, at most, 20 million Indians would die whereas Pakistan would be destroyed! Krishamurthy was, unknowingly, quoting General Turgidson! "No more than ten to twenty million killed, tops!"

This low level conflict in India fairly regularly has riots in which thousands are killed, often with the support of the largely Hindu police departments.

Additionally, there is a second low level religious conflict going on in India. About twenty percent of the Indian population are technically Hindu but casteless, or outcastes, called Dalits. In rural areas, the oppression of Dalits can be truly savage with Dalits forbidden to come within 64 or 128 paces of upper caste people (warriors and priests, shocker that, right?) on penalty of death. It is sometimes enforced - even on whole Dalit communities! Dalits are often forced to use different wells and springs that caste Hindus, and, believe me, they do not share equal water rights. Unsurprisingly, the Dalits don't like this, and there are occasional armed clashes where, sometimes, thousands can be killed. There is also a lot of hard to document low level violence between Dalits and caste Hindus. In Bihar, for instance, there's this group, Ranvir Sena, that uses organized violence to repress Dalits. The Dalits have responded with the creation of groups like the Dalit Panthers Movement which attack upper caste members.

In eastern India, the Dalits often make up the bulk of Maoist organizations, some of which are also engaged in low level civil warfare against various Indian states. Maoism's atheism appeals to people who have been brutally oppressed as a people on religious grounds for thousands of years.

I should also note in all of this there is a large racial component. Members of the upper castes tend to be, uh, whiter than lower caste Indians. The upper castes were populated the Aryan invaders thousands of years ago. The lower castes and especially the Dalits tend to be the black skilled Dravidian peoples that the Aryans conquered.

Which is to say that Hinduism is pretty fucked up, too.

There are religions, old ones, even, that I don't have any problems with. Buddhism and Taoism (and I account myself a philosophical Taoist) are almost entirely absent the sort of racist, nationalist murderousness of most religions - indeed, many people consider them to be philosophical systems rather than religions, because of their lack of things like an organized priestly hierarchy and absence of religious dogma. My view is that to some people both Buddhism and Taoism are certainly religions, but they also have a large number of people who are philosophical adherents. But even at the most religious, neither Buddhism nor Taoism systematically supported mass murder, conversion through violence, or even the "enforcement" of doctrine on co-religionists in any meaningful capacity. Oh, sure, Buddhists and Taoists might argue with each other, but it very rarely comes to blows. So that's pretty cool.

In general, however, my feeling about religion is that I don't care what adults believe in privacy. I am only concerned with the effects of those religious sentiments when they're brought into the social and political sphere - when people, on the grounds of their private religion, start making special status claims for the articles of their religious faith. When they start to force their religion on others. In the biggest religions in the world, they've all been doing this centuries and them doing it is literally ingrained in culture. They've been doing it so long they expect to be able to continue doing it. Indeed, it's been this way for so long that many agnostics and atheists support the special cultural status of religion! They attack anyone who dares to challenge religion as merely a social, economic and political entity, no different from a major corporation or government! Which is absurd. Freedom of speech and conscience, as well as the separation of church and state, demands that religion be treated identically to any other human created institution, that it be measured on the same grounds and with the same tools as we use to measure any other institution. This is true of all religions, so virtually everything I say about Christianity applies to any religion whose adherents generally claim special status on religious grounds - which is the religion of almost all people everywhere.

Atheists are Funny! Really!

Before I set about writing today's for honest and real post, I have decided to bring the funnies, again!

First, a friend sent me a link to Dance, Monkeys, Dance, which he commented was "atheist humor at its best". I rather agree. Remember, Nietzsche was just another monkey!

Then, another friend, Stew, sent me a new webcomic, Russell's Teapot, whereat Jerry Falwell is mentioned. I think it's safe to say when something about Falwell is titled "A Legacy of Love", laughter is bound to ensue.

Lastly, in the humor department, another whacky letter from a Christian!

Religion is a tool of control. It has the power to corrupt and the power to heal. Take a drug for example. In one hand you have a placebo and in the other the actual drug. In most cases the placebo works just as well as the actual medication. So in conclusion Religion on all levels is a placebo. It doesn't do anything except control the people who believe. Religion will never cease to exist. People are satisfied with the false light. My advice to you is to lead the sheep in your will. Make them do what is morally right. This is what religion is about. It is essential for human life. Otherwise we would die in our heartless blood rage.

Remember, this is supposed to be pro-religion! How to answer this sort of thing is completely beyond my knowledge and skill as a thinker and writer.

In a bit, I'll be comin' back with an actual post for today. But I thought I'd start out with some laughter!