Emotion Vs. Logic

The religious battles that continue to be fought are over which symbol has the right of Primacy, and which leadership will prevail.

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Propaganda and ignorance cause many Americans to believe the unbelievable about President Barack Obama. It begins with a lack of understanding of the Religions of the Book, and ends with condemnations and accusations of the President; the victim of a campaign by Republicans whose purpose is to win back the power of the presidency by playing upon the ignorance of willing consenters. So, let’s set the record straight.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam claim to worship the same God. However, Judaism refers to God as Jehovah; Christians say Jesus [as Christ] is God, and Islam considers Mohammed the last Prophet of God, not Jesus who is considered a subordinate prophet; Christianity disagrees. Hence, it is not God, per se, but the people behind the symbols of each religion that are the cause of religious wars that has killed tens, if not thousands of millions of persons since Christianity and Islam evolved.

Judaism is the first of the Religions of the Book; its Talmud is the Book of ancient Jewish Law, considered by Jews as expressing the will of Jehovah in the interest of the Jewish Nation whose people Jehovah calls His Chosen. All religion is composed of cults of differing opinion, but who worship the same God. The Christian cult’s idea was to make Jehovah the God of All Nations, not just the Jews, a concept Jewish elders found not to their liking.

Consequently, the Christian cult became a coterie determined to elevate God [if not for Judaism] then by a New Testament of their making “for All Nations.” The plan called for a man who would be called Christ-the Son of God; [i.e., Jehovah]-who would die for the cause. Isaiah was the Prophet by which the plan was revealed, and who introduced the essential man [not yet by name] “given” to the coterie to become the Christ. The plan was audacious and succeeded because of the dedication of members who embraced the Catholic concept of a Universal Church for which Jesus became the sacrificial lamb.

Before and after His crucifixion, the coterie composed tales to be included in the New Testament, including the Gospels, to enhance the imagery of Christ and the coterie’s philosophy [the true Lord of Christendom]. Paganism was the current religion of Empire, against which Christians contented for more than three hundred years, and many Christians became martyrs when pitted against animals and man in the Coliseum until, in 312 A.D. Emperor Constantine made Christianity the Religion of his Empire under a system of Ceasaropapism - a sharing of power between the religious and secular arms of government - that lasted until the 11th Century when Secular Participants submitted wholly to the will of The Church whose corruption thereafter was legend.

In the 7th Century Islam emerged. Taking a page from the Christian’s New Testament it introduced Mohammed as the Last Prophet of God, and its Koran is the last of the Three Books. To repeat: Jehovah was the first God; Christianity invoked Christ as The Son of God [Jehovah] with a pitch toward One God for All Nations, but Islam trumped the Christians by producing Mohammed as the Last Prophet of God. There is in all The Books a common thread of goodness, but individual interpretations by religious leaders has been used to promote the sense of Primacy in their favor.

The religious battles that continue to be fought are over which symbol has the right of Primacy, and which leadership will prevail. Evolving Christianity invoked the Inquisition and the witch hunt to subdue dissention within its own ranks; Germany‘s Hitler [Nazis] tried to exterminate the Jews via the Holocaust; Islam established extreme codes of conduct and jurisprudence toward woman over whom devout Muslim men exercise extreme and even vicious control. Jews have fought wars of defense against Muslim nations hoping to destroy Israel which is yet at war with Islamic Palestinians. These are not wars of faith, but of men who love power and make war to achieve [or keep] it.

President Geo. W. Bush was a devout Christian of the Evangelical persuasion, such as Rev. Rod Parsley of Cincinnati, Ohio who preached that it was God’s; [i.e., Jesus’] will that “American Christians destroy Islam.” The Republican Holy See is composed of Evangelicals who dictate how the Party is to be run; so it is not surprising that Iraq was invaded preemptively in a failed attempt to destroy Islam, while pretending to punish Iraq for a part it never played in the 9-11 attack in New York. When the truth was out, Al Qaeda was made the enemy, described as disparate groups of terrorists dedicated to attacking the U.S.. So, on to Afghanistan, etc., etc., at the expense of American Constitutional Rights and economic solvency.

While the U.S jousts with windmills to achieve goals only the military understands, tribal habits persist in Iraq and Afghanistan in spite of our efforts. President Obama has begun the process of removal, at least from Iraq, but the cost of War in Afghanistan, and the total withdrawal of troops from Iraq, will continue to be a serious drain of American wealth for some time, but it is wrong to blame President Obama for what The Republican Administrations of Geo. W. Bush started.

To keep the political pot boiling, however, emotions are being stirred to a fever pitch over the plan by American Muslims to build a Mosque near the site of GROUND ZERO. Apparently, the Islamic law of an eye for an eye metaphorically applies to American Muslims who are American citizens entitled to equal rights under the Constitution as is any citizen. The Irish faced the same problem; Orientals too before finally being accepted, most of whom today are citizens of the highest standing. Muslim émigrés to our land should abide by our standard of values and norms to become part of America’s greatness based on Unity through Diversity, as emigrants from other lands have done

The most egregious attack is on our president, as Republicans by quiet innuendo encourage its base, and others, to question his citizenship and religion. Far too many accept, or get weird satisfaction in pretending he is an alien of Muslim faith. Every American citizen is permitted Freedom of Religion so long as it does not interfere with the rights of others, and that includes President Obama who may believe as he likes, not as others feel he should. Republicans are more interested in promoting their political goals than the good of the country, but can get away with it only if we let them. How anyone in his right mind would allow it to happen is beyond comprehension.

Raised in Minnesota and California during the dark years of the Great American Depression, Ken is well suited to talk about the powerful forces in the world that give all of us hope and tragedy and everything in between. You can write to Ken at:darken1@sbcglobal.net

Salem-News.com Top Stories

2025: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Two Wars with No Way Out

No One Owns the Future

The Ugly Origins of Trump's America First Policy

A One-State Solution Could Transform the World

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

Hoodie September 24, 2010 12:52 pm (Pacific time)

Vic, do you define Christianity as a way of life, a belief, or both to be a true christian?

Munir Munshey August 25, 2010 7:05 am (Pacific time)

KR, I definitely agree with your article. Being an American means being more than a Christian. Maybe in theory! I was trying to suggest that being a Christian in America is being less than what the bible recommends or even what the secular constitution recommends

Ken Ramey August 23, 2010 1:00 pm (Pacific time)

MM - There is more to being an American than also Being CHRISTIAN, as I hoped I made clear. Your defensivness misses the point completely and needs to be overcome to achieve understnding and peace of mind.

Munir Munshey August 23, 2010 7:50 am (Pacific time)

Gandhi said: those who think politics and religion can be held separate do not understand politics, nor do they understand religion. Christianity does not operate in a vacuum. Some Christians or at least the demagogues among them do drag religion into politics. If not, there would be no opposition to the building of a place of worship. To deny the Muslims the right to worship and pray, because some members of its community committed ungodly acts amounts to collective punishment. At this point in history that is what the American Christians are bent upon treating the minorities. As for the women, they too are being treated different from what the bible recommends.

Ken Ramey August 23, 2010 12:49 pm (Pacific time)

Anonymous August 23, 2010 4:20 pm (Pacific time)

qui vive, to each seeker of truth, I understand that his or her own judgments and conclusions are all that is necessary. The whole point of the journey is not to let others define what the truth is, since that is exactly where the corruption enters the picture. Whether I seek enlightenment through a personal relationship with Christ or an impersonal relationship with Krishna, it is in the seeking that I think we can find fulfillment. Others among us may communicate directly with God almighty and forgo any middlemen, whether they be the "son" or the "men in robes". My understanding is that there is but one God. Does that answer your question?

qui vive August 23, 2010 12:38 pm (Pacific time)

Anon: when you say "all of us who believe in God" and that "there is just one truth," do you mean Jesus is God, etc., or does what you say have another meaning?

Anonymous August 23, 2010 12:08 pm (Pacific time)

Even Christianity treated women as second-class citizens just one generation ago. Some of the Orthodox "sects" still do. The Russian sects in Woodburn believe that men have complete control over women. You know, those sects that believe that it is OK to beat children due to the translation of their "text" Book? It is sad that anyone uses religion as an excuse for any abhorrent behaviors. All of us who believe in God should be striving at the same "truths". It is man who is corrupt. There is on truth, regardless of what men in robes may tell us.

Vic August 23, 2010 10:15 am (Pacific time)

The title of this piece is right on..9-11 was designed to get us to react out of emotion...get mad, demand action...Logic would cause us to wonder why never before in the history of the world has fire brought down steel framed structures, yet on that day three fell at freefall speed, including one not even hit by an airplane. Logic would require that we listen to the over 1000 architects and structural engineers who have signed a statement saying that the official story is physically impossible. Logic would cause us to wonder why casino owners in Las Vegas spend over a million dollars to have old casinos demolished and imploded so that they fall straight down when all they would have to do according to the official story, is start a fire in the basement. Logic would demand to know how student pilots who were incapable of a solo flight in a single-engined Cessna were able to manuever huge multi-ton aircraft like they were fighter planes..Logic would also wonder why the first people arrested that day were Israelis who had a camera set up on a tripod and who were filming the whole thing and high-fiving when the palnes hit and the buildings fell..etc.. etc... Id say anyone who still blames Muslims for 9-11 is devoid of logic or perhaps simply do not want to be aware of inconvenient truths. "There is none so blind as those who refuse to see" John Heywood

qui vive August 23, 2010 8:50 am (Pacific time)

I never knew why Jesus was called the Son of God until now. Ineresting.

Douglas Benson August 23, 2010 6:11 am (Pacific time)

All these morons believe in the gift of eternal life in exchange for thier faith .Really? I dont see anyone living forever do you? Oh you have to die first .How silly of me. What a lot of bull. What is so hard to accept you live you die THE END.

Roger Mulligan August 22, 2010 6:23 pm (Pacific time)

Ken of these outlines of the different religions you provided, and thank you, which one treats women as somewhat less than human at this moment in history? Obviously we know it is Islam, but not just by the Taliban in Afghanistan, it pretty much happens in all countries where Islam is also a political power. Which brings up the question, is Islam a political doctrine, a relgion, or both? How do other religions fair when Islam controls the government? You assert that republicans are about asserting power, well sure, all those in power want to push forward their agenda. In the last 19 months has the current leadership listened to the will of the people, or have they been more concerned with pushing their agenda regardless of what the people want? No doubt we have competing powers butting heads, but that's how are system works One group ran us into an economic ditch, and another one appears to be driving us off a cliff. So with our votes, we hopefully keep them in check. As far as what religion people think Obama is, I don't believe that is all that significant and will soon fade as more news comes in to get the public's attention on another "big thing." Finally regarding the building of the Cordoba Mosque, it has nothing to do with the practice of religion in the eyes of the majority of Americans, but being sensitive to issues centered around 9/11. If it is built where they want to build it, then the divisiveness will not only grow, but harden.

Editor: I see, so just honor the law and the Constitution when it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings in the process? It is ridiculous at this point to believe anything the government ever said about the 9/11 events anyway. The people who are talking about the impossibility of bin Laden having a single thing to do with it however, are worth listening to.

Vic August 22, 2010 3:58 pm (Pacific time)

Do any of you believe that you can be responsible for dragging out wars that are killing civilians...women and children every single day and causing unimaginable grief and suffering and STILL call yourself a Christian ?? If so, what a watered-down and incredibly incorrect concept of Christianity you have. It is profane, really. Obama can call himself whatever he wants, but he is NO Christian. Same goes for Bush, Cheney, Rice and all the other blasphemous warlords professing to follow The Prince of Peace....I think MLK was a Christian...can you imagine him ordering drone strikes on a house that might contain "militants"? How much "collateral damage" would be acceptable to him? Would he refuse to join the cluster bomb ban like Obama has? Would he be sending billions in weapons to Israel? Obama is no Christian.

Ralph E. Stone August 22, 2010 6:33 am (Pacific time)

Unbelievably, 1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim. Guess we should never underestimate the power of ignorant people in large groups. By the way, he is a practicing Christian. Of course, Republicans know this, but they don't mind a bit of public ignorance if it advances their cause.

Vic August 22, 2010 6:26 am (Pacific time)

"Jews have fought wars of defense against Muslim nations hoping to destroy Israel which is yet at war with Islamic Palestinians." Wars of defense??? Which wars would that be? Also the last time I checked, the "defensive" Israelis were killing Palestinian Christians too, not just Muslims.

Munir Munshey August 21, 2010 7:39 pm (Pacific time)

Muslim émigrés to our land should abide by our standard of "values and norms" to become part of America’s greatness. Hope that is not a euphemism for accepting Christianity! And there would be nothing wrong if some among the Christians accepted the "norms and values" of Islam. Is there? As long as the acceptance is voluntary! That is called the "give and take"

[Return to Top]

Quick Links

DINING

MUST SEE SALEM

AUCTIONS - APPRAISALS

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

ONLINE SHOPPING

Advertise with Salem-News