In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Perhaps as a rebuttal to Michael's post below (the one below the murder/violence bit) I'd like to point out:
Third of Americans Say Evidence Has Supported Darwin's Evolution Theory
Almost half of Americans believe God created humans 10,000 years ago
See? What you said... was.um.. more say God.... then Darwin...10,000 years ago....
Whoa. I'm out of touch with America.
But this isn't blue vs. red... this isn't a heartland issue. There's a good chance several folks in your neighborhood believe that either dinosaurs walked with humans or their bones were strewn about the world by God to test our faith. (or by evil scientists to test our faith).
From the Gallup Poll:Although 45% of Americans believe that humans were created by God pretty much in their present form at one time 10,000 years ago -- a view that corresponds to the account of creation as presented in the Bible -- only 34% of Americans believe that the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for wordOnly... Only 34%? That seems huge to me. And it seems to be ignoring the fact (and these are facts folks, not some piece of socialist liberal propaganda) that the modern bible (well the new testament portion) is largely a list of accepted works and letters compiled around the year 170 and perhaps written with the influence of Pius 1 the bishop of Rome from 142 to 157. Even this though isn't the final list, what is now considered the new testament wasn't finalized until around 367 by St. Athanasius (bishop of Alexandria). The Catholic church has no problem with these facts. So to believe it is the exact word of God you must believe that Pius 1 was able to weed through all the gospels (and there were more back then) and determine which ones were legit. And then you have to believe that he made a few errors, but that somehow St. Athanasius was 100% right on.
Oh and thanks to the wikipedia for the exact dates and names... I only had a general sense of the history based on what I've read about the Gnostic Gospels.
Now the 48 inspired bit... I can go with that. I don't agree, but I can't really say they are wrong, not really. Heck an out right 100% evangelical Atheist is pretty religious in their own right... they have to "have faith" in the "fact" that the unprovable has been unproven (yeah tough I know, but that is what faith is all about now ain't it).
It should be noted that this is what MoveOn noted about George Gallup Jr: "is a devout evangelical Christian, has been quoted as calling his polling ?a kind of ministry.? ... And a few months ago, he said, ?the most profound purpose of polls is to see how people are responding to God.'." So perhaps this, like much of any church's or political party's doctrine, should be taken with a pinch of salt (Lot used pinch his wife every time he heard that line).
- rob 11:10 AM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
