You can't fight violence with violence

Halting mass violence, including terrorism, requires a political will to address the problem at its roots. That requires western nations to revise their foreign policies in ways that do not generate and sustain cycles of violence. Unfortunately, such political will appears unlikely at this stage of human history.

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Vatican looks to heavens for signs of alien life

"Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God's creative freedom."

What a cop-out. "...we cannot put limits on God's creative freedom"?

I see this as religion "evolving" (after all, Galileo was imprisoned and Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for their thoughts.) so as to try and stay relevant. To try and keep its power and influence over people.

Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered "part of creation."

Interesting, no? Now what if those intelligent beings look nothing like us humans? Did "god" really create us in "his" image then? I'm betting that "logic" (if you can call it that) will evolve too once they realize it can no longer hold water.

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Five Hours

After calculating that I wasted 6500 hours in church the first 25 years of my life, I vowed to spend 6500 hours doing volunteer work that would actually make a difference in the world.

It was just too good not to post.

Stumbled

In one of the few stumbling moments that I get, I came across the following graphic. I found it amusing, but that's just me.

Criticism over Obama invite mounts at Notre Dame

Chris Carrington, a political science major from the Chicago area, said he doesn't see how Obama's appearance at Notre Dame contradicts Catholic values.

"To not allow someone here because of their beliefs seems a little hypocritical and contradictory to what the mission of the university and church should be," he said.

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Vatican defends pope condoms stand, criticism mounts

The Vatican on Wednesday defended Pope Benedict's opposition to the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS as activists, doctors and politicians criticised it as unrealistic, unscientific and dangerous.

I can't believe this is still even an issue. Yeah, even for the Pope and the Catholic Church.

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Famed pastor predicts imminent catastrophe

"It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires – such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago," he explains. "There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting – including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Jesus, this guy.

He's preying on people's fears and the current global economic crisis (which was a man-made crisis) and claiming this will be "God's wrath." I read on...

"God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations," claims Wilkerson. "He is destroying the secular foundations." Wilkerson urges everyone to stockpile a 30-day supply of food and other necessities to deal with the catastrophe he foresees.

"I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off," Wilkerson concluded in his message. "I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose."

Of course you don't "know when these things will come to pass". For some strange reason this "God" of yours is never able to disclose such details.

There's a pretty good chance that a disaster like this could happen, but that's just because of the crisis that a few humans have put the world in, not because your "God" is pissed off at America and other nations.

You're doing a little preemptive strike here. In case something like this does happen, then you will have many sheeple following you. Good move on your part, but "God" has nothing to do with it.

Read more, if you really want to, here.

Pope Benedict criticizes homosexual behavior

Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

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The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound."

The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work."

Hmmm. Seems like "behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations" might just be proof that you've been making up this "god" of yours.

He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."

Sure, those of us that disagree with you can respect this "order" of yours. Too bad you can't seem to do the same for those that are different than how you think they should be.

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Saudi cleric says 'depraved' TV moguls may be killed

A senior Saudi cleric has issued a religious decree saying the owners of television networks broadcasting "depravation and debauchery" may be killed, Al-Arabiya television reported on Friday.

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"It is lawful to kill ... the apostles of depravation... if their evil cannot be easily removed through simple sanctions," Luhaidan said, according to excerpt of the remarks broadcast on the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya.

Read more. Practice religion less.

Sarah Palin’s Preacher Problem. End Times Coming?

I did a drive-by of Palin’s church when I was traveling through Wasilla yesterday, not realizing the furor that would be churning the blogosphere less than 24-hours later about a speech Palin delivered there only three months ago. Here’s what she said regarding the war in Iraq.

“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.”

Jesus. I'm sure "God" gets tired of being used in such ways.

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Rep. Bachmann: Planet's Been Saved Already

“[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet,” Bachmann said. “We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.”

They're both whacked.

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Study: Most Americans say many religions can lead to eternal life

Most Americans say they are absolutely sure about standards of right and wrong – and are just as sure that no one religion holds an exclusive franchise on the truth.

Overwhelming majorities of Americans say they believe in God (or a "universal spirit"). But substantial majorities from all major religious categories also say they believe their religion is not the only path to eternal life, and that there's not just one correct version of their faith.

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But a willingness to accept diverse views could be found even in members of many faith traditions known for strictly defined religious truths: More than 60 percent of those who said they were Southern Baptists said many religions can be right about how to get to the hereafter. And about eight in 10 Catholics said there was more than one true interpretation of their faith.

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As other surveys have indicated, the Pew study indicates that America has drifted slightly more secular over the decades, but overwhelming majorities continue to say they believe in God (92 percent), heaven (74 percent), hell (59 percent), and angels and demons active in the world (68 percent).

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Obama Wants to Expand Role of Religious Groups

“Now, I know there are some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square,” Mr. Obama intends to say. “But the fact is, leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups.”

Jesus.

Different wolf. Same sheep's clothing.

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Christian Theologians Prepare for Extraterrestrial Life

Little green men might shock the secular public. But the Catholic Church would welcome them as brothers.

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Since God created the universe, theologians say, he would have created aliens, too. And far from being weakened by contact, Christianity would adapt. Its doctrines would be interpreted anew, the aliens greeted with open -- and not necessarily Bible-bearing -- arms.

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The West is becoming 'obsessed with Islam,' Vatican warns

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, said that the Church “has to have regard for all religions" and that the West's fascination with Islam was putting inter-faith dialogue at risk.

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"I'm going to India next month and I want to give this message that all religions are equal.

"Sometimes there are priorities because of particular situations, but we mustn't get the impression there are first-class religions and second-class religions."

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Website Lets You Send a Post-Rapture E-Mail to Friends 'Left Behind'

If millions of Christians suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth as the opening act for Armageddon, Threat Level thinks most nonbelievers will be too busy freaking the hell out to check their e-mail. But if they do log in, now they can be treated to some post-Rapture needling from their missing friends and loved ones, courtesy of web startup YouveBeenLeftBehind.com.

For just $40 a year, believers can arrange for up to 62 people to get a final message exactly six days after the Rapture, that day when -- according to Christian end times dogma -- Christians will be swept up to heaven, while doubters are left behind to suffer seven years of Tribulation under a global government headed by the Antichrist.

Christ on a cross.

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One in four don't believe in God, poll finds

Fewer than three-quarters of Canadians believe in a god, suggests a new Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey.

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The poll found 72 per cent of respondents said they believed in a god, while 23 per cent said they did not believe in any god. Six per cent did not offer an opinion.

Polls have told a different story in the United States.

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Scientists, Theologians Debate Whether God Exists

"Science does not make belief in God obsolete, but it may make obsolete the reality of God, depending on how far we are able to push the science," Shermer writes in the booklet.

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In other words, he suggests that we can get around the divide between science and God if we come up with a new concept for God that focuses on the wonders of nature, among other things.

This new concept is a global cultural imperative, Kauffman writes, if we are to overcome fundamentalist fears and reunite reason with humanity and the mysteries of life.

Just like always: change the concept of "god" to fit the times. Man, God reinvents herself more frequently than Madonna.

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Senators ask God to deflect hurricanes

“Let’s ask God that he spare us again this year from any more hurricanes,” said Sen. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden. He noted that last year the Senate also asked for God to rein in El Nino and atmospheric patterns that had created a horrendous prediction of a terrible hurricane season.

Webster said that the state was spared last year, boggling the minds of scientists.

Christ in a basket, these people.

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Pregnant Woman Sees Jesus Image in Ultrasound

When an Ohio woman looked at an ultrasound she expected to see a developing fetus.

Instead, she saw what she believes to be an image of Jesus Christ, MyFox Cleveland reported on its Web site.

Christ on a cross.

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