What a massive civil revolt would require is to shut down the Corporate Owned News. As long as the propaganda megaphones are running 24/7, the US population will be too divided to take collective action. The oligarchs own the news and they make sure the public is divided and at each other's throats. It's why I have said for years, "People unite, left and right". Until the public gets over the manufactured hatred that they have been subjected to since the 1990s (when the news finally died for good) we will just have Red vs. Blue. The wealthy always uses divide and conquer as their primary strategy to maintain control.
I suppose this is why Congress is trying to control TikTok. Too many people are getting their news from non-corporate sources--and we can't have that in the land of the free.
Trying to control TikTok is just the start of the next phase of America's ever growing Security-Secrecy-Surveillance-Censorship-Propaganda-Domestic PsyOps Panopticon.
Did anybody here at BV know that today ~ March 15, aka “The Ides of March” ~ is “International Day To Combat Islamophobia”?
In the event You didn’t, read Caitlin Johnson’s “Genocidal Psychopaths Celebrate International Day To Combat Islamophobia” at https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/genocidal-psychopaths-celebrate-international . And read what President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken have to say about Islamophobia today.
And keep a barf bag close at hand.
Caitlin concludes as follows:
“This is so creepy. It’s one of those things where the more you look at it, the creepier it becomes. They [Biden, Harris, and Blinken] are condemning Islamophobia and denouncing hate crimes against Muslims at the exact same time as they are helping Israel create a mountain of Palestinian corpses in a genocidal onslaught whose entire premise is that Palestinians are the wrong race and the wrong religion. They are proclaiming their love for the Muslim while plunging a knife into his throat.
“But that’s exactly who Democrats are. Their actions don’t matter, only their feelings matter. It didn’t matter that Obama expanded all of Bush’s most depraved wars and butchered Muslim populations using bombs and proxy militias throughout his entire administration, all that mattered was that he spoke eloquently and expressed compassion when the cameras were on. It doesn’t matter that Biden is directly backing a genocidal campaign which has probably killed far more people than the official death counts acknowledge, it matters that he condemns Islamophobia and that White House sources keep feeding the press stories about how privately ‘frustrated’ he is with Benjamin Netanyahu. The whole thing’s just a vehicle through which the more progressively-minded half of the American public can support the murderous agendas of the US empire while still feeling nice about themselves.
“REPUBLICANS ARE THE OPENLY FASCISTIC THUGS OF THE US EMPIRE, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE THE PSYCHOPATHIC PR MANAGERS RUNNING AROUND PHOTOSHOPPING SMILEY FACES ON THE FASCISM. REPUBLICANS ARE THE DOPEY GOON SQUAD, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE THE CRIMINAL MASTERMIND. REPUBLICANS ARE THE BLUNT INSTRUMENT, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE THE POISON SYRINGE. REPUBLICANS KILL MUSLIMS WHILE SAYING THEY HATE MUSLIMS, WHILE DEMOCRATS KILL MUSLIMS WHILE SAYING THEY LOVE THEM.
“DEMOCRATS ARE THE GRINNING PLASTIC MASK THAT SITS ON TOP OF THE SNARLING, BLOOD-SPATTERED FACE OF THE US EMPIRE. THEY PURPORT TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH WORKERS, WITH MARGINALIZED GROUPS, WITH WOMEN AND WITH THE POOR, AND THEY CLAIM TO OPPOSE RACISM, INJUSTICE AND TYRANNY, BUT WHEN IT COMES RIGHT DOWN TO IT THEIR REAL PURPOSE IS TO PUT A NICE FACE ON THE MOST MURDEROUS AND TYRANNICAL REGIME ON THIS PLANET.” [EMPHASIS added.]
Any American who does not fear for the future of this Nation that they ~ and, more importantly, their Children ~ are about to confront will get exactly what they deserve.
The Real Question is: How can that Fear be most effectively transformed into Action to change that future before it is too late to do and/or change anything? And more importantly: What sort of Changes need to be made to America’s system of government and governance to prevent that future from happening?
Or is it already too late?
Again, yet, and still the ultimate Question remains: “Will America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, 841 days from today? And if it does, will the American Peoples be in any mood or condition to celebrate anything?”
Or is there a better Question? As in “CAN America survive…?” And if so, How?
Or is the best Question “SHOULD America survive…?” And if so, Why?
Having grown up in Syracuse, where the Berrigan brothers had also grown up and where Dan had taught at LeMoyne College, and, like them an anti-war activist (but one lacking their remarkable courage), they've been an inspiration to me as well as to so many others. I'll look forward to reading this book. Looking further, I also see that there are a number of films made about the brothers that I will also try to see.
Reading the brief bios at WikiPedia, it's notable that while they were primarily known for their anti-war resistance actions and resultant jail time, they also held deep convictions about social justice more broadly. I recall that at least one of the nuns from my parochial school who went to Selma in 1965, to demonstrate for civil rights was inspired by them..
25 YEARS ON… HOW THE NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA LED TO THE U.S. PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIA
“Twenty-five years ago in March 1999, the US-led NATO alliance launched a 10-week bombing campaign on former Yugoslavia.
“It led to the balkanization of Serbia and Kosovo. It also led to the further enlargement of the NATO military bloc and endless foreign military interventions in violation of international law.
“The NATO campaign to bomb Yugoslavia – only eight years after the end of the Cold War – invoked a humanitarian pretext but it did not have a legal mandate from the UN Security Council. It therefore was an illegal aggression perpetrated largely on the say-so of Washington.
“President Joe Biden, then a senator, was wholeheartedly in favor of the audacious military action in Eastern Europe.
“Alex Krainer, author of GRAND DECEPTION, contends that the NATO military aggression in Yugoslavia in 1999 was a strategic gambit by the US-led Western powers to pursue hegemonic ambitions of dominating Russia and any other geopolitical rival.
“The aggression 25 years ago fatally undermined international law and set a precedent for the next quarter century of endless US and NATO wars around the world, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, across the Middle East and North Africa, and elsewhere.
“THE CURRENT US-LED NATO PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIA CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE HISTORIC ASSAULT ON YUGOSLAVIA. IN ATTACKING YUGOSLAVIA, SAYS KRAINER, THE US AND ITS NATO VASSALS WERE SERVING NOTICE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE BOUND BY INTERNATIONAL LAW.
“IN MANY WAYS, THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE IS THE CULMINATION OF THAT HEGEMONIC LAWLESS MINDSET AND CONDUCT.”
Speaking of Religions and Gods and Prophets and Saviors and War Over What Is “TRUTH”…
The clearest, most complete and concise explanation of the relationship between Religion and War was what Mark Twain had to say in his epic “The War Prayer,” written in the immediate afterglow of America’s imperial victories and expansion in the Spanish-American War of 1898:
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism … on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun … nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. …
Sunday morning came — next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams — visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! … The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said …
…
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work….
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. … he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. …
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside — which the startled minister did — and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
“I come from the Throne — bearing a message from Almighty God!” …
“God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two — one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this — keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
“You have heard your servant’s prayer — the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it — that part which the pastor — and also you in your hearts — fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ … When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory–must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!”
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
Dennis, I don't think of the Bible as the Truth. I think of it as a book of wisdom, a book of stories, some based on history and facts, others loosely based on them or possibly not at all.
To me, the Bible isn't a history book or a science book etc. It's a religious book driven by faith. Its meaning to me is how it speaks to my heart and mind. I feel the same way when I read Confucius or Zen sayings or Lao Tzu. I don't worry if Confucius literally said what he allegedly said. Their value to me is the wisdom I can gain from them; how they speak to me, challenge me, get me thinking.
Of course, I speak only for myself here. I realize some people literally believe in the Bible as divinely inspired, but I don't.
Unfortunately, throughout history, there have been far, far too many people ~ Rulers and Subjects ~ who DO regard The Bible [or The Torah or The Koran] as THE TRUTH; and a justification for [even blueprint and instructional manual on] eliminating those who believe in either of the other two versions of "THE TRUTH."
Thus the Jewish Exodus, the invasion, conquest, and liberation of The Land Yaweh promised His Chosen People. And then the subsequent Muslim Jihads to transfer that Land to Allah's People. And then the subsequent Christian Crusades to attempt to return that Land to Jesus' People's control.
And so forth. Particularly since 1948 and the creation of the Nation-State of Israel.
i wonder if the Taoists, Confucians or the Buddhists ever had an Exodus; or launched any Jihads or Crusades.
I appreciate the fact that as an historical set of writings, it is a complete mess. Over the centuries religious scholars (both Jewish and Christian) have not sought to edit it down to clean and tidy propaganda as we are served on a daily basis these days. One can be disgusted, amused or some combination of both at the modern day literalists who go into contortions of all kinds try to explain away its many contractions and horrific actions done in “God’s name.”
I can only be disgusted and never amused by “Christians” who live their lives far more in the worst of the Old Testament while ignoring the Sermon on the Mount of the New Testament. And as for the “family values” crowd, as I counseled a couple guilt-ridden Christian mothers with wayward children, try to find an account of a functional family anywhere in the Bible. It is nearly impossible. Even Jesus’s relatives were ready to throw him over a cliff.
For Christians I would say this. If their “faith” and practice cannot be reconciled with the Sermon on the Mount (and I’ll narrow it down to the pithy summary of Luke 6:27-38), then they and all others before them have got it wrong. I believe the Berrigan brothers, King, Day, Merton and many others of the last century lived and understood this as essential to what defined their life and work.
If Science ever manages to find real, repeatable "Evidence" of God it would be World Wide News instantly...! Its the truth Science is always looking for. Firstly because its a primitive Bronze age myth. Its the theists that live and die on fantastical tales and mumbo jumbo, Do we even have any scientific evidence that Truth exists..? In sum belief systems should revolve around the scientific method... When we recognize our place among the immensity of light years and stars in the passage of eons of time and the ages before us then I get that soaring feeling elation and humility combined that is surely spiritual to me..! I'm agnostic, and have a naturalistic view of the Universe.
I think the pursuit of truth is a fundamental goal of science.
I think religion, or philosophy, or any system of belief, should be judged by something more than truth alone. Words like insight, wisdom, even comfort, come to mind.
So, for example, if someone believes their loved one is "in heaven with God," do we attack that person? Do we tell them their belief has no scientific merit? Most of us would say nothing here. Instead, we show compassion and tolerance for another person's beliefs, even if we believe them to be unscientific and without merit.
I think one can revel in nature and also manifest a belief in God or gods. Perhaps another way or looking at this is that there are many forms of "truth." Also, if you read Sir Peter Medawar's "The Limits of Science," he explains there is no such thing as "the scientific method." Also, some questions are simply beyond or outside of science, at least as it's constructed today.
Perhaps more important than "truth" is the pursuit of it, together with an attitude of humility and tolerance and compassion for others. Come, let us reason together, let us explore together, is a good approach, I think.
People were scared of dying that is why I think they created a afterlife with God, or Gods in a place called heaven, or Paradise-- something Mark Twain said when asked if he was afraid of dying, he replied: " I was dead for billions of years before I was born. Why should I be afraid of it now." It could be a lot worse. Religion is comforting that way only...
Did Jesus rise from the dead? A matter of faith. Is he still alive? In the sense that his teachings still live, yes. Can you see him? Not physically, no. But can you feel close to him through his teachings? Yes.
Those are my answers. And when I refer to Christ's teachings, I realize they are based on oral histories that may be flawed. Yet much of ancient history is based on oral testimony.
Again, what is truth? To me, what's more important is the pursuit of truth in all its forms.
As Twain put it, "Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight."
What a massive civil revolt would require is to shut down the Corporate Owned News. As long as the propaganda megaphones are running 24/7, the US population will be too divided to take collective action. The oligarchs own the news and they make sure the public is divided and at each other's throats. It's why I have said for years, "People unite, left and right". Until the public gets over the manufactured hatred that they have been subjected to since the 1990s (when the news finally died for good) we will just have Red vs. Blue. The wealthy always uses divide and conquer as their primary strategy to maintain control.
I suppose this is why Congress is trying to control TikTok. Too many people are getting their news from non-corporate sources--and we can't have that in the land of the free.
Trying to control TikTok is just the start of the next phase of America's ever growing Security-Secrecy-Surveillance-Censorship-Propaganda-Domestic PsyOps Panopticon.
We ain't seen nuthin yet.
Did anybody here at BV know that today ~ March 15, aka “The Ides of March” ~ is “International Day To Combat Islamophobia”?
In the event You didn’t, read Caitlin Johnson’s “Genocidal Psychopaths Celebrate International Day To Combat Islamophobia” at https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/genocidal-psychopaths-celebrate-international . And read what President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken have to say about Islamophobia today.
And keep a barf bag close at hand.
Caitlin concludes as follows:
“This is so creepy. It’s one of those things where the more you look at it, the creepier it becomes. They [Biden, Harris, and Blinken] are condemning Islamophobia and denouncing hate crimes against Muslims at the exact same time as they are helping Israel create a mountain of Palestinian corpses in a genocidal onslaught whose entire premise is that Palestinians are the wrong race and the wrong religion. They are proclaiming their love for the Muslim while plunging a knife into his throat.
“But that’s exactly who Democrats are. Their actions don’t matter, only their feelings matter. It didn’t matter that Obama expanded all of Bush’s most depraved wars and butchered Muslim populations using bombs and proxy militias throughout his entire administration, all that mattered was that he spoke eloquently and expressed compassion when the cameras were on. It doesn’t matter that Biden is directly backing a genocidal campaign which has probably killed far more people than the official death counts acknowledge, it matters that he condemns Islamophobia and that White House sources keep feeding the press stories about how privately ‘frustrated’ he is with Benjamin Netanyahu. The whole thing’s just a vehicle through which the more progressively-minded half of the American public can support the murderous agendas of the US empire while still feeling nice about themselves.
“REPUBLICANS ARE THE OPENLY FASCISTIC THUGS OF THE US EMPIRE, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE THE PSYCHOPATHIC PR MANAGERS RUNNING AROUND PHOTOSHOPPING SMILEY FACES ON THE FASCISM. REPUBLICANS ARE THE DOPEY GOON SQUAD, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE THE CRIMINAL MASTERMIND. REPUBLICANS ARE THE BLUNT INSTRUMENT, WHILE DEMOCRATS ARE THE POISON SYRINGE. REPUBLICANS KILL MUSLIMS WHILE SAYING THEY HATE MUSLIMS, WHILE DEMOCRATS KILL MUSLIMS WHILE SAYING THEY LOVE THEM.
“DEMOCRATS ARE THE GRINNING PLASTIC MASK THAT SITS ON TOP OF THE SNARLING, BLOOD-SPATTERED FACE OF THE US EMPIRE. THEY PURPORT TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH WORKERS, WITH MARGINALIZED GROUPS, WITH WOMEN AND WITH THE POOR, AND THEY CLAIM TO OPPOSE RACISM, INJUSTICE AND TYRANNY, BUT WHEN IT COMES RIGHT DOWN TO IT THEIR REAL PURPOSE IS TO PUT A NICE FACE ON THE MOST MURDEROUS AND TYRANNICAL REGIME ON THIS PLANET.” [EMPHASIS added.]
Any American who does not fear for the future of this Nation that they ~ and, more importantly, their Children ~ are about to confront will get exactly what they deserve.
The Real Question is: How can that Fear be most effectively transformed into Action to change that future before it is too late to do and/or change anything? And more importantly: What sort of Changes need to be made to America’s system of government and governance to prevent that future from happening?
Or is it already too late?
Again, yet, and still the ultimate Question remains: “Will America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, 841 days from today? And if it does, will the American Peoples be in any mood or condition to celebrate anything?”
Or is there a better Question? As in “CAN America survive…?” And if so, How?
Or is the best Question “SHOULD America survive…?” And if so, Why?
Having grown up in Syracuse, where the Berrigan brothers had also grown up and where Dan had taught at LeMoyne College, and, like them an anti-war activist (but one lacking their remarkable courage), they've been an inspiration to me as well as to so many others. I'll look forward to reading this book. Looking further, I also see that there are a number of films made about the brothers that I will also try to see.
Reading the brief bios at WikiPedia, it's notable that while they were primarily known for their anti-war resistance actions and resultant jail time, they also held deep convictions about social justice more broadly. I recall that at least one of the nuns from my parochial school who went to Selma in 1965, to demonstrate for civil rights was inspired by them..
It’s called “Long-Range Planning”… :
25 YEARS ON… HOW THE NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA LED TO THE U.S. PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIA
“Twenty-five years ago in March 1999, the US-led NATO alliance launched a 10-week bombing campaign on former Yugoslavia.
“It led to the balkanization of Serbia and Kosovo. It also led to the further enlargement of the NATO military bloc and endless foreign military interventions in violation of international law.
“The NATO campaign to bomb Yugoslavia – only eight years after the end of the Cold War – invoked a humanitarian pretext but it did not have a legal mandate from the UN Security Council. It therefore was an illegal aggression perpetrated largely on the say-so of Washington.
“President Joe Biden, then a senator, was wholeheartedly in favor of the audacious military action in Eastern Europe.
“Alex Krainer, author of GRAND DECEPTION, contends that the NATO military aggression in Yugoslavia in 1999 was a strategic gambit by the US-led Western powers to pursue hegemonic ambitions of dominating Russia and any other geopolitical rival.
“The aggression 25 years ago fatally undermined international law and set a precedent for the next quarter century of endless US and NATO wars around the world, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, across the Middle East and North Africa, and elsewhere.
“THE CURRENT US-LED NATO PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE AGAINST RUSSIA CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE HISTORIC ASSAULT ON YUGOSLAVIA. IN ATTACKING YUGOSLAVIA, SAYS KRAINER, THE US AND ITS NATO VASSALS WERE SERVING NOTICE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE BOUND BY INTERNATIONAL LAW.
“IN MANY WAYS, THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE IS THE CULMINATION OF THAT HEGEMONIC LAWLESS MINDSET AND CONDUCT.”
From Finian Cunningham’s interview with Alex Krainer at https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/03/10/25-years-how-tnato-bombing-yugoslavia-led-to-us-proxy-war-ukraine-against-russia/ ; EMPHASIS added.
Speaking of Religions and Gods and Prophets and Saviors and War Over What Is “TRUTH”…
The clearest, most complete and concise explanation of the relationship between Religion and War was what Mark Twain had to say in his epic “The War Prayer,” written in the immediate afterglow of America’s imperial victories and expansion in the Spanish-American War of 1898:
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism … on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun … nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. …
Sunday morning came — next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams — visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! … The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said …
…
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work….
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. … he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. …
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside — which the startled minister did — and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
“I come from the Throne — bearing a message from Almighty God!” …
“God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two — one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this — keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
“You have heard your servant’s prayer — the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it — that part which the pastor — and also you in your hearts — fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ … When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory–must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!”
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
Source: https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/19-american-empire/mark-twain-the-war-prayer-ca-1904-5/
Thanks, Ray.
Dennis, I don't think of the Bible as the Truth. I think of it as a book of wisdom, a book of stories, some based on history and facts, others loosely based on them or possibly not at all.
To me, the Bible isn't a history book or a science book etc. It's a religious book driven by faith. Its meaning to me is how it speaks to my heart and mind. I feel the same way when I read Confucius or Zen sayings or Lao Tzu. I don't worry if Confucius literally said what he allegedly said. Their value to me is the wisdom I can gain from them; how they speak to me, challenge me, get me thinking.
Of course, I speak only for myself here. I realize some people literally believe in the Bible as divinely inspired, but I don't.
Unfortunately, throughout history, there have been far, far too many people ~ Rulers and Subjects ~ who DO regard The Bible [or The Torah or The Koran] as THE TRUTH; and a justification for [even blueprint and instructional manual on] eliminating those who believe in either of the other two versions of "THE TRUTH."
Thus the Jewish Exodus, the invasion, conquest, and liberation of The Land Yaweh promised His Chosen People. And then the subsequent Muslim Jihads to transfer that Land to Allah's People. And then the subsequent Christian Crusades to attempt to return that Land to Jesus' People's control.
And so forth. Particularly since 1948 and the creation of the Nation-State of Israel.
i wonder if the Taoists, Confucians or the Buddhists ever had an Exodus; or launched any Jihads or Crusades.
Heh. Where else would You find a quote like that BUT on the internet, Dennis?
And i'm curious: How'd You like how the Nevada Republican Presidential Primary turned out?
I appreciate the fact that as an historical set of writings, it is a complete mess. Over the centuries religious scholars (both Jewish and Christian) have not sought to edit it down to clean and tidy propaganda as we are served on a daily basis these days. One can be disgusted, amused or some combination of both at the modern day literalists who go into contortions of all kinds try to explain away its many contractions and horrific actions done in “God’s name.”
I can only be disgusted and never amused by “Christians” who live their lives far more in the worst of the Old Testament while ignoring the Sermon on the Mount of the New Testament. And as for the “family values” crowd, as I counseled a couple guilt-ridden Christian mothers with wayward children, try to find an account of a functional family anywhere in the Bible. It is nearly impossible. Even Jesus’s relatives were ready to throw him over a cliff.
For Christians I would say this. If their “faith” and practice cannot be reconciled with the Sermon on the Mount (and I’ll narrow it down to the pithy summary of Luke 6:27-38), then they and all others before them have got it wrong. I believe the Berrigan brothers, King, Day, Merton and many others of the last century lived and understood this as essential to what defined their life and work.
Throw in Gandhi, who lived and understood this, as well.
If Science ever manages to find real, repeatable "Evidence" of God it would be World Wide News instantly...! Its the truth Science is always looking for. Firstly because its a primitive Bronze age myth. Its the theists that live and die on fantastical tales and mumbo jumbo, Do we even have any scientific evidence that Truth exists..? In sum belief systems should revolve around the scientific method... When we recognize our place among the immensity of light years and stars in the passage of eons of time and the ages before us then I get that soaring feeling elation and humility combined that is surely spiritual to me..! I'm agnostic, and have a naturalistic view of the Universe.
I think the pursuit of truth is a fundamental goal of science.
I think religion, or philosophy, or any system of belief, should be judged by something more than truth alone. Words like insight, wisdom, even comfort, come to mind.
So, for example, if someone believes their loved one is "in heaven with God," do we attack that person? Do we tell them their belief has no scientific merit? Most of us would say nothing here. Instead, we show compassion and tolerance for another person's beliefs, even if we believe them to be unscientific and without merit.
I think one can revel in nature and also manifest a belief in God or gods. Perhaps another way or looking at this is that there are many forms of "truth." Also, if you read Sir Peter Medawar's "The Limits of Science," he explains there is no such thing as "the scientific method." Also, some questions are simply beyond or outside of science, at least as it's constructed today.
Perhaps more important than "truth" is the pursuit of it, together with an attitude of humility and tolerance and compassion for others. Come, let us reason together, let us explore together, is a good approach, I think.
People were scared of dying that is why I think they created a afterlife with God, or Gods in a place called heaven, or Paradise-- something Mark Twain said when asked if he was afraid of dying, he replied: " I was dead for billions of years before I was born. Why should I be afraid of it now." It could be a lot worse. Religion is comforting that way only...
Did Jesus rise from the dead? A matter of faith. Is he still alive? In the sense that his teachings still live, yes. Can you see him? Not physically, no. But can you feel close to him through his teachings? Yes.
Those are my answers. And when I refer to Christ's teachings, I realize they are based on oral histories that may be flawed. Yet much of ancient history is based on oral testimony.
Again, what is truth? To me, what's more important is the pursuit of truth in all its forms.
As Twain put it, "Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight."
Twain nailed Religion in many, many ways, TomG. Along with a whole bunch of other things Human believe, think, and do.
For a collection of the Best of his writings in that area, see LETTERS FROM THE EARTH: Uncensored Writings By Mark Twain, Edited by Bernard DeVoto.
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_from_the_Earth ]