Once you start torturing, it has a life of its own.
Please do read it in its entirety. And remember, Bush and Rumsfeld didn't coin the phrase 'enhanced interrogation'. The Gestapo did.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Slippery Slope
Andrew Sullivan has yet another money post on this administration's 'interrogation methods' in which he points out that the methods used are not new. I'm not going to excerpt it, but I'll leave you with the money quote:
Please do read it in its entirety. And remember, Bush and Rumsfeld didn't coin the phrase 'enhanced interrogation'. The Gestapo did.
Please do read it in its entirety. And remember, Bush and Rumsfeld didn't coin the phrase 'enhanced interrogation'. The Gestapo did.
Monday, May 28, 2007
The Land of the Lost
In addition to The Taft Museum (where you can see Rembrandts and Sargeants), The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and The Behringer-Crawford Museum of Natural History, the greater Cincinnati area adds a new museum to its list of places to visit.
The Creation Museum, conveniently located near the airport and the interstate system, opens its doors today. There, a visitor will see a literal six day creation of the earth, learn that this planet is only 6,000 years old and see dinosaurs co-exist with humans.
In the years since the Freedom Center has opened, this museum dedicated to tolerance education, freedom and (you guessed it) the history of the Underground Railroad, has struggled financially. There are fewer visitors than planned for and the endowment money is less than hoped for.
In this era when three Republican candidates for President (Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee) don't believe in evolution, I'm guessing the $27 million Creation Museum won't struggle to make money or lack for visitors.
The Christian Post has an excellent, unbiased article that details the inherent challenges presented in the book of Genesis for Fundamental Christians--if you don't believe that the earth is 6,000 years old and you don't believe that God created it in six 24 hour days, then you've undermined Biblical Authority--and for those Christians who believe in evolution.
It's what makes the extreme Christian Right so very scary: their faith leaves no room for doubt, for questions, for debate, for growth. To think that if one does not believe that God created the earth in six 24 hour days, the rest of the Bible is invalidated seems to be the antithesis of faith. Doesn't it take much more faith to view Genesis as a beautifully written book about the incomprehensible power and majesty of God than a book that answers every question about how we all got here?
Or as, as Francis S. Collins asks in the Christian Post article, “Could God actually be threatened by what our puny minds are learning about the beautiful complexity of His creation?"
The article goes on to quote Creation Museum Founder Ken Ham (you might remember him from Alexandra Pelosi's documentary) saying "“Maybe there’s someone out there – but I haven’t met anybody yet – who because we told them to believe the six literal days and believe what the Bible has written, has left Christianity."
Well Ken, I guess I'd best get over to that museum and introduce myself.
Like my granddaddy used to say, "Religion is man made and faith is God made." What is important is knowing the Grace of God through Jesus Christ, not undermining science and causing harm in the name of faith.
In this time, it is very difficult to see Christianity as an instrument of kindness, goodness, generosity and charity, as a religion that practices what Jesus instructed us to practice. My own personal beliefs have been sorely strained by our current Christianist President, his Christianist minions, and the Christian Right-- those who would deny science, who seem to have all the answers, who by their actions indicate that other religions are a threat to their faith, and, who are remarkably intolerant, who seem to have no trouble lying or equivocating, as long as they do it because God has put it in their hearts.
Ken, I count myself as one who has left "Christianity"--but not my faith--due in no small part to the Creationists' denial of science and your efforts to force me to believe a literal interpretation of Genesis.
The Creation Museum, conveniently located near the airport and the interstate system, opens its doors today. There, a visitor will see a literal six day creation of the earth, learn that this planet is only 6,000 years old and see dinosaurs co-exist with humans.
In the years since the Freedom Center has opened, this museum dedicated to tolerance education, freedom and (you guessed it) the history of the Underground Railroad, has struggled financially. There are fewer visitors than planned for and the endowment money is less than hoped for.
In this era when three Republican candidates for President (Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee) don't believe in evolution, I'm guessing the $27 million Creation Museum won't struggle to make money or lack for visitors.
The Christian Post has an excellent, unbiased article that details the inherent challenges presented in the book of Genesis for Fundamental Christians--if you don't believe that the earth is 6,000 years old and you don't believe that God created it in six 24 hour days, then you've undermined Biblical Authority--and for those Christians who believe in evolution.
It's what makes the extreme Christian Right so very scary: their faith leaves no room for doubt, for questions, for debate, for growth. To think that if one does not believe that God created the earth in six 24 hour days, the rest of the Bible is invalidated seems to be the antithesis of faith. Doesn't it take much more faith to view Genesis as a beautifully written book about the incomprehensible power and majesty of God than a book that answers every question about how we all got here?
Or as, as Francis S. Collins asks in the Christian Post article, “Could God actually be threatened by what our puny minds are learning about the beautiful complexity of His creation?"
The article goes on to quote Creation Museum Founder Ken Ham (you might remember him from Alexandra Pelosi's documentary) saying "“Maybe there’s someone out there – but I haven’t met anybody yet – who because we told them to believe the six literal days and believe what the Bible has written, has left Christianity."
Well Ken, I guess I'd best get over to that museum and introduce myself.
Like my granddaddy used to say, "Religion is man made and faith is God made." What is important is knowing the Grace of God through Jesus Christ, not undermining science and causing harm in the name of faith.
In this time, it is very difficult to see Christianity as an instrument of kindness, goodness, generosity and charity, as a religion that practices what Jesus instructed us to practice. My own personal beliefs have been sorely strained by our current Christianist President, his Christianist minions, and the Christian Right-- those who would deny science, who seem to have all the answers, who by their actions indicate that other religions are a threat to their faith, and, who are remarkably intolerant, who seem to have no trouble lying or equivocating, as long as they do it because God has put it in their hearts.
Ken, I count myself as one who has left "Christianity"--but not my faith--due in no small part to the Creationists' denial of science and your efforts to force me to believe a literal interpretation of Genesis.
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