The Myanmar Cyclone: God or Karma?
Friday May 9, 2008
yangon—In the aftermath of 9/11 Christian fundamentalists lost no time in blaming the horror on a nation what had "turned from God". Likewise, Hurricane Katrina was "God's wrath for New Orleans' sexual immorality".
On the other side of the world this week 100,000 Buddhists perished in a devastating cyclone and karma, not God, is being blamed for the disaster. However, unlike their Christian counterparts, an estimated 80 percent of Myanmar's 52 million people will take this excuse to heart and will likely offer endless prayers as penance for their sins.
Whether you're a Buddhist monk in Myanmar, or a fundamentalist Baptist preacher in America's deep South, those with an ounce of common sense will know it all comes down to soothing the ignorant masses with superstitions to explain away senseless suffering and death.
Meanwhile, this morning the headlines tell that the Myanmar junta has seized U.N. food shipments to feed 95,000 people, a tiny fraction of the estimated 1.5 million victims of the cyclone. The U.N. has announced that it will suspend any further aid: "All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated," U.N. World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said. "For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time."
Despite death threats, gay bishop says he'll marry his man!
new york—Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson's announcement this week that he plans to marry his gay partner on the eve of the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, seems to be calculated to coincide with the release of his new book, "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God."
Once every ten years Anglican bishops from around world are invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to a conference, known as the Lambeth Conference. Since the Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Church of England, or Anglican Church, Bishop Robinson was expecting to receive an invite. However, Robinson has been told in no uncertain terms that he is unwelcome at the conference. Nevertheless, Robinson has announced that he is going just the same to stand outside the meetings in protest: "The table that God invites us to includes everyone, and the church is going to get it wrong sometimes ... I think the Archbishop of Canterbury has gotten this wrong by not inviting everyone. I'm going to go and offer myself and talk with anyone who wants to talk to someone who is unashamedly gay and unashamedly Christian."
It was in 2003 that Robinson was elected a bishop and thus became the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. The appointment was so controversial that Robinson's life was threatened. These threats were treated with enough respect for Robinson to wear a bulletproof vest during his consecration—making one wonder about his "faith" in divine protection!
His faith seems to have improved because in this latest round, Robinson will go to England in the face of renewed death threats: "When your life is at stake, you learn that there are things in life that are much worse than death. That's the great reward of being a Christian. Not living your life—that's worse than death. And if something were to happen to me, I would know that I am doing what I discern God is calling me to do."
Since the bible Robinson professes specifically condemns homosexuality in both Old and New Testaments, more pragmatic people must ask what motivates the bishop's actions. Robinson uses the old standby when he says people fail to understand bible scripture. "It is called an abomination for a man to lie with another man as with a woman," but, he writes, the Bible also says it is an abomination to eat pork or shellfish, to wear clothing made of two different fibers, or to sow two different types of seed in the same field."
Robinson is right about the three laws he cites. But both he and the Christian masses have completely ignored the fact that the bible they profess makes it plain that any true believer must keep these laws, and the 613 other laws of the Old Testament, since they were instituted by God FOREVER, and since Jesus commanded their observance in Matthew 5:17-18: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
Despite Robinson's cavalier attitude towards the bible he professes, at www.darrellwconder.com we must wonder if his motivation is the extraordinary publicity he's received since his coming out, and if this is related to his impending book royalties? Certainly his open row with the Archbishop of Canterbury, making headlines around the world, certainly won't hurt book sales!
Messiah Arrested on Sex Charges
santa fe, nm—Sgt. Bobbie Long of the Clayton Police Department announced that Wayne Bent has been arrested and charged with three counts of sexual contact with a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. In his "The Lord Our Righteousness Church," Bent's 50 followers consider him to be the Messiah, as Bent himself explains: "I am the embodiment of God. I am divinity and humanity combined."
Jeff Bent, the Messiah's son, said his father was arrested on "false charges." Bent has acknowledged having sex with followers, which includes his daughter-in-law, and lying naked with virgins. But like a good Messiah, he refused their offer of sex.
A posting attributed to Bent on the church's Web site Monday said: "Jesus had not committed any crimes, so the authorities had to invent some crimes to crucify him over. It is the same for me also. I have committed no crimes, but many crimes are being imagined and concocted in the minds of men to try and kill me again. Men are so stupid, though, for they do not know that they cannot kill Spirit. They think if they get to kill my body it will end it. I laugh long and hard over this. My Spirit cannot be killed by dogs and snakes or anything else."
The church's website is located at: http://strongcity.info
Gay Former N.J. Gov's Divorce Circus
trenton, nj—New Jersey's now openly gay ex-Governor, Jim McGreevey, and his estranged wife appeared in court Tuesday to write the final chapter in divorce court.
The divorce proceedings promise to be as juicy as any other episode in the McGreevey circus, which explains why the former governor ducked into the back door of the court house.The issues before the court include whether McGreevey, now openly gay, committed fraud by marrying a woman.
Matos McGreevey is demanding $600,000 for the lost time she would have spent at the governor's mansion had her husband not resigned in disgrace, making one wonder just what the hell the woman would have done as New Jersey's First Lady to pocket 600,000 bucks!
For his part, McGreevey, who stepped down during his first term after a nationally televised speech in which he acknowledged being "a gay American" and having an affair with a male staffer, also admitted that he had a two-year three-way sex life with Teddy Pedersen, a 29-year-old former aide. The other partner in the three-way was Matos McGreevey, the former gov's soon-to-be ex (who denies the allegation).
After his 2004 resignation, both Gov. McGreevey and his wife wrote books detailing their lives and sexual practices. It is here that Matos McGreevey claims that she never knew that her husband was gay until he admitted it to the rest of the world. The former gov claims that their marriage was "a contrivance on both our parts," but that he fulfilled the marriage contract by providing companionship and a child.
No doubt the details of the story are entertaining, but what sticks in the craw of www.darrellwconder is the revelation that McGreevey is studying to become an Episcopal priest. If half the allegations in the ex-gov’s divorce case are true, then he and his wife are frauds who put on a show to fool voters. In that light it seems obvious that they kept his sexuality quiet in order to advance his political career and her financial prospects. We have no problem with any church employing gay ministers, but in view of the recent Jeremiah Wright/Obama and John Hagee/McCain episodes, the last thing the world needs is another proven hypocrite preaching the "Word of God!"
McCain's Religious Baggage
washington—With Sen. Obama still trying to slug his way out of the damage caused by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his loud-mouthed spiritual mentor, many supporters are trying to fix the media's attention on presidential hopeful John McCain's own wack-o spiritual backer. To be sure, Pastor John Hagee is beating on a different drum, but the potential danger is no less real than the hate that litters Wright's career.
In March the New York Times reported that Sen. McCain specifically sought out Hagee's support for his presidential bid—a good move if one wants to court the fanatical support of the nation's fundamentalist Christians—not a good move if one wants the support of the nation's Catholics.
John Hagee's record of Catholic bashing is indesputable, although McCain excuses this by saying he believes the pastor's words were taken out of context. Hagee attempted to clarify his position by releasing a statement in which he declared: "To call me 'anti-Catholic' makes about as much sense as calling me 'anti-Protestant.' I am, most assuredly, neither."
Catholic League president Bill Donahue has answered back: "Did we also mischaracterize Hagee when he called my religion 'The Great Whore,' the 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ' and a 'false cult system'? McCain cannot ignore Hagee's lies any more than he can tolerate his bigotry. This is getting out of control." Donahue later called Pastor Hagee a "bigot" and called on McCain to denounce Hagee's endorsement.
Smelling blood, the Democratic National Committee has released the following round-up of Hagee's statements:
We at www.darrellwconder.com are as disgusted with the bigot Hagee as we are with the racist Jeremiah Wright. That any political office seeker should be pandering to these fruitcakes is a warning signal of worse things to come.
Barack & Jeremiah
washington—There is an old saying in the South that goes something like this: "don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining!" In America the meaning of that sentiment needs no explanation—except when it comes to religion & politics!
It seems that no matter how often ministers and politicians piss on the American public, their only reaction is to reach for the nearest umbrella. The latest example of this insanity can be found in the strange relationship between Sen. Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
First of all, if you are among those die-hard Republicans or Democrats who still believe that Americans actually VOTE presidents into office, then so be it. We'll leave it to other web sites to enlighten you on that assumption. What we're concerned with here is the very real danger that organized religion has always posed to any responsible society. Fortunately America's founding fathers recognized this danger and enacted laws to separate church and state. Unfortunately they left one big loophole in their founding documents, which all but mandated the inclusion of God and the Christian bible in presidential politics. Thus, the unique American institution of packing up God and taking him on the presidential trail has always been and no doubt always will be part of the road to the White House. This is why presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama put his foot into it by publicly embracing Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ as his "mentor" and spiritual father.
In the past the bond between presidential hopefuls and men of God has been carefully choreographed for photo ops to impress fundamentalist Christian voters. Secular Americans know this and usually shrug it off in the secure knowledge that men like Bill Clinton are as Christian as they are faithful husbands. This is why the smoke and mirrors of political religiosity employs benign boring old farts whose sonorous religious rhetoric wouldn't fill the back seat of a Volkswagen with listeners, let alone a press conference. Someone should have told Sen. Obama about this formula before he brought Rev. Wright & baggage to his presidential campaign. Last week Rev. Wright demonstrated to a stunned Barack Obama that he can fill a press conference. Read the entire article here.
George Bush's National Day of Prayer
washington, dc—President Bush marked the National Day of Prayer at the White House's East Room on Thursday (May 1) before some 230 religious, political and military leaders: "On this day, we celebrate our freedoms, particularly the freedom to pray in public and the great diversity of faith found in America.... I love being the president of a country where people feel free to worship as they see fit. And I remind our fellow citizens, if you choose to worship or not worship, and no matter how you worship, we're all equally American."
The National Day of Prayer was signed into law in 1952 by President Harry Truman. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan amended the law to state that observances would be held the first Thursday in May. Official nationwide observances are coordinated by a task force led by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. "This is the eighth year that our National Day of Prayer Task Force has had the honor of calling Americans to prayer from the White House," Dobson said, thanking Bush for holding ceremonies there. "By making prayer a priority in your life, you have set a powerful example." (Note: organizers, like Shirley Dobson, must affirm a statement of faith that declares the Bible to be "the inerrant Word of the Living God".)
Conservative Christian leader Paul Weyrich, who co-founded the now-defunct Moral Majority with the late Jerry Falwell, had this comment about Bush's performance. "I personally am pleased that we have a president that values prayer ... I fear the day when we have a president who doesn't. I think, whether you agree with his policies or not, clearly, he has relied upon guidance from above and I commend him for that."
Puke! Are these people on the same planet as the rest of us? Are they really talking about the man who lied us into an endless war, who has murdered over 4,000 American personel with his lie, who has vastly enriched the old boy net with his so-called war on terror, who has consistently thumbed his nose at the American Constitution calling it a "goddamned piece of paper", who has presided over an administration riddle with corruption and special intrest payoffs?
We ask what good has a national day of prayer done for the US in its 56 year history? Did it keep JFK alive? Did it keep us out of Vietnam and save the lives of 56,000 soliders? Did it prevent Watergate? Did it keep Bill's pants zipped up while he occupied the Oval Office? Did it add any grey cells to George Bush's brain?
National Day of Prayer indeed! It should be reassigned to the first day in April since only a fool still believes in the intregrity of American politics (or the efficacy of prayer!).
Roderick C. Meredith: Bogus Faith Healer?
charlotte, nc—This past week a reader sent a link to a You Tube video of Living Church of God's founder Roderick C. Meredith preaching Herbert W. Armstrong's doctrine of divine healing.
The broadcast featured Meredith tossing out stories about how God healed his warts back when he was a teenager and how a woman he had visited many years ago was healed when she applied one of Herbert Armstrong's "prayer cloths" to a defective arm. What Meredith glossed over was how his wife, Margie, died an excruciating death from cancer back in 1976 because she shunned medical treatment and relied on Armstrong's healing doctrine. He also failed to mention the countless other victims who were killed off by relying on his and Armstrong's divine healing doctrine.
It was wise on the part of Living Church of God to have disabled the comment section of Meredith's video, since we would have liked to ask him some very inconvenient questions! However, as the years continue to pass, it will be interesting to see if the 78-year old Meredith will shun his healing doctrine and turn to doctors, drugs and private duty nurses to keep going, as did his mentor, the late Herbert W. Armstrong, in the last years of his life.
You may find the You Tube link here. For more insight on biblical healing, we recommend Darrell W. Conder's "Things You've Never Heard in Church" Series: In the Name of God—Be HEALED (and Die!)
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A Personal Letter from Darrell W. Conder
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