"Know your enemy."
- Sun Szu

"Just as the September 11th was a wake up call to our country. The tsunami was a wake up call to the worshipers of idols and false gods... That they should give their lives to Jesus. "
- Perry Stone Jr. on TBN's "Praise The Lord", January 7th, 2005

"There is a sociological function for myth, in that it supports and validates a certain social and moral order for us. The story of the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai is an example of this."
- Joseph Campbell - Thou Art That

"In any case, you now have a very interesting conflict between a patriarchal culture that is less refined but physically more powerful and a goddess worshipping civilization or much higher sophistication. Of course, the barbarians dominated and then assimilated the local mythology."
- Joseph Campbell - Pathways To Bliss

"Now, on Ash Wednesday, you see lots of Catholics walking around the streets of New York with ashes on their foreheads. 'Dust thou art, and onto dust shalt thou return.' DUST!! That's Mother Earth, and you are putting her down that way? So you have this bachelor deity - this is the only mythology in the world without a goddess, the only one in the world. And the goddess of the other mythologies is called the Abomination."
- Joseph Campbell - Pathways To Bliss

"The myths that originally pointed to the goddess as the source of all now point Yahweh, the male God. This transformation is a curious aspect of our tradition, even bewildering. Symbols talk spontaneously to the psyche; you know what they're saying, down in the unconscious. But the person who presents the myth to you talks a different language. He says, 'It's the Father,' but your psyche says, 'No, it's Mother.' So, then we go to the psychiatrist. "
- Joseph Campbell - Pathways To Bliss

January 7th, 2005

Are we ready for more stupidity from the TBN televangelists? Yeah, I thought you were.

I know, I know, I haven't given a good rant against the televangelists in a dog's age, but as you probably have guessed from the date of this rant and the top quote by Perry Stone Jr., they just pissed me off. This was the third incident in less than a week that these bastards have used the cataclysmic event of the tsunami in South East Asia for gain to their cult. Oh! And before I get an guff from my Christian readers, it is a cult - and a destructive one at that.

I need only to make the cases of Christians that protest the funerals of homosexuals that were murdered and tell the weeping survivors that their beloved is going to Hell. I believe one church group wanted to erect a damning monument that a dead homosexual went to Hell on such and such a day. Yes, it happened. The Westboro Baptist Church erected a "perpetual gospel memorial" to Matthew Shepherd on October 12th, 1998. You can find out more from the site (and I shit you not) godhatesfags.com (The link is intentionally left out. I refuse to have any traffic directly associated from my site to that site).

These people are nuts. They are a group that exists to do nothing but hate monger people who don't go with their myth. Where is the love? Where is the compassion? Where is the "Do unto others as you would have done unto you"? But given the psychotic teachings of what that cult is up to, I'm really not surprised. Plus I sleep well at night knowing that karma is a bitch.

I have to make it clear, though, I have nothing against the teachings of Jesus - just as I have nothing against the teachings of the Buddha. After all, in many instances, Christianity had adopted many of the teachings that Buddha taught 500 years earlier. So, I, who use many of Buddha's teachings in my life, can't criticize what was copied to another religion that is just a pale imitation of enlightenment.

I also wish to state that if Christianity gives you comfort, personally, you should keep with it. Just don't go shoving it down MY throat.

Which brings me to the televangelists. There is a horrible series of Jedi Mind Tricks that the Christian Cults are attempting to perpetuate on the public. It's being done in a way very similar to way Fox News does "journalism". They state facts that are just misleading in a way that would make an uninformed person buy them. The most notorious of the TBN bullshitters is Hal Lindsey. He hosts his show called "The International Intelligence Briefing". Believe me, intelligence is far removed from this show. His show is filled with incredible inaccuracies that do nothing more than further Christian Fundamentalism propaganda. For example - And I love this one as it illustrates his contempt for the intelligence of his own viewers - for his first broadcast after the 2004 election, he broadcast his mocking ridicule of the cover of the British magazine, The Daily Mirror, which said simply, "How can 59 million people be so dumb?" Hal went on to imply that 59 million people voted for Kerry.

What Hal either didn't quite get or was intentionally misleading in his broadcast was the widely known US fact that it was 59 million people who voted for Dubya (as it was pretty much implied at the top of the magazine). I would like to also add as a side note that Bush's preliminary approval rating for his second term, according to an AP poll, is the lowest of all second term presidents in over 50 years with 49% of the US population who still think he's doing a rotten job all around. Plus the fact that it was the religious right states that gave him his support. Not the Northeast and those who were closest to ground zero during 9-11 that also have the highest literacy rates.

But I digress. Back to my pal, Hal.

Hal has the same set up every show. He starts the show with his Nescafe globe coffee cup full, and then midway through the show TBN will plug a commercial for Paul Crouch's book, Shadow of the Apocalypse, which will feature his introduction to that load of tripe, then they will cut back to the show and show the coffee cup half empty.

I'm sure that this implies he is hard at work drinking coffee as news bulletins from around the world are pouring in to get his input on how his theory of Bible prophesy will work out. What scares me is that there is some hick down south who is using his show as a legitimate news source. This is despite the fact that Hal is probably one of the worst broadcasters I've ever seen. In a span of five minutes he will probably flub about 10 words while reading from his cue cards.

It's that bad.

But as bad as ol Hal is, he does not hold a candle to my contempt in Dr. James Kennedy, of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church aired every Saturday on TBN. This man makes me want to puke. He stands on his pulpit every Saturday wearing, get this, doctoral robes. Personally, I hate him for that. This is another factor of his Sith Jedi mind trick. He stands with his doctoral robes speaking his nonsense - and it is nonsense - and people who are, let's say, "weak minded", think he knows what he is talking about because he gives the appearance of an educated man.

Let me tell you something. And I'll say this to anyone who will try to win an argument with me by using the Bible as a factual source. It isn't. You can't use the same book to prove a fact in question by that same source. I only take messages of the Bible as fiction. I discount it. Unless, of course, you wish to say that Christians do this action because it is stated in such and such chapter and verse of the "good book". Call my rationale for this revenge for the Scopes Monkey Trial. THE BIBLE IS A MYTH!!!! It's like trying to make evidence of sea monsters by quoting The Odyssey by Homer. It's just not true. It was written a long time ago and back then people believed in sea monsters - BUT IT JUST ISN'T TRUE!!!

Dr. Kennedy is a man on a mission. His mission is to dissolve the Church/State barrier for Christians. No other religions are to apply to this - ONLY Christianity. Which according to Thomas Jefferson is just plain wrong. After all, why should my federal tax dollars be made to support a philosophy that I don't believe in. As a matter of fact, my tax dollars should not go to an organization that is so ecologically irresponsible, as well as physically violent as that of the Church.

I really wish you could see what this guy is like. He speaks "loftily". Each sentence is spoken in the tone of "Listen to me! I am the knower." Do yourself a favor and don't eat before listening to this guy. You have to see to believe the rediculousness of this man. But as I don't wish to put streaming video of his show on my site, you may have to knuckle under and watch him on his hour sermon on TBN.

Don't say you weren't warned.

For those of you who want a taste of what Dr. James Kennedy thinks of others outside his faith, just read through this ABCNews article to see this idiot in action.

Can you believe this prick? He really has to get one thing through his THICK SKULL. With the exception of something John Jay said in his more senile years, we are NOT a Christian nation. It may have been true briefly in the 1700's when the colonists did not consider the natives of this country as citizens, but even Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin (and most likely Betsy Ross) would probably disagree.

Anyone looking for my argument for this country NOT being a Christian Nation need only to look at our flag with the fifty pentacles in a field of blue, with 13 stripes in red and white. For non-Pagans, pentacles represent earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. The number 13 represents the number of phases that are in a lunar cycle.

It's Pagan.

Were we a Christian Nation, don't you think we'd use something like 50 crosses? Well, perhaps I speak too soon. Maybe we should use the flag we had before the stars and stripes. You know, the one with the snake that says, "Don't tread on me!"

And we all know how Christians feel about snakes.

How about I go into the Illuminati pyramid on the back of the one dollar bill which states we are a secular nation. It's in Latin. Novus Ordo Seclorum - for the Pagan Freemasons. It means New Secular Order. Secular is the key word here meaning "worldly, rather than spiritual". Or perhaps, I should bring up the symbol used to signify rank among generals or the shape of a sheriff's badge - Pentagrams or as most people see them as five pointed stars.

All Pagan.

Remember, according to the Bible thumpers, God won't love you unless you are a Christian. If you aren't a Christian, you have a one way ticket to that "lake of fire" that John writes about. Doesn't that just warm your heart? A "man of God", like Dr. Kennedy, just doesn't give a rat's ass about you if you don't agree with his fairy tale. If you were a Pagan, like me, you could literally be on fire in front of him and he wouldn't even so much as spit on you to put you out.

Perry Stone Jr. feels very much the same way. He broadcast today that the idol worshippers of South East Asia got their wake up call when the tsunami hit. He and Hal Lindsey are of the same mind on this. He believes that because they worship idols they should be going to Hell anyway. Well, just to let you know that these statues are every bit as legitimate as their crucifixes. Because Christians worship at a cross and pray at a cross and not directly to Jesus or God, does that mean that all of the Christians are going to Hell as well? It IS food for thought. I mean what is a holy statue anyway? Is it that a god resides in that statue or is it what the Pagans and Buddhists make to be a focal point where they can meditate? Is there really a difference?

Well, thank you, Perry and Hal for your little slice of daily idiocy. I really don't think that the poor Buddhists on Sri Lanka were thinking, "Oh no! We really should have been Christians!!!" I'm certain that the Buddhists in their last moments were thinking that everything is changing and reincarnation is a wonderful thing. Things are impermanent and the next life will be different. The true peace of the Buddhists may have given them peace before the waters came. After all, 174,000 victims couldn't be the recipients of a psychotically vengeful and jealous Christian God, right? The Buddhists (the ones who died with the Hindus and other Pagans) are probably the most peaceful people on the planet. There is not one word of history of Buddhists who are violent or shove their religion down the throat of another. As a matter of fact, the thought of doing so for a Buddhist is just repulsive. Oh! And have I mentioned that some of the Buddhist monks are selling their real estate holdings in the US to help out the victims. When was the last time you saw a Christian or Catholic church land owner do something like that to ease the suffering of some who are more unfortunate than they? Remember that the next time the collection plate comes around.

"Love one another as I have loved you." Some guy who looked very much like Ted Nugent said that, I think.

If you really want to watch a minister who is offensive on almost every level, watch Pastor John Hagee, the Hutt. Yes, kiddies, the hutts of Star Wars' Tatooine have taken over the the Christian church. As it is with all of the hutts, they are not susceptible to the Jedi Mind Trick. Hagee, the Hutt, preaches Bible doctrine as it should be taken into government policy. This includes our full support of Israel and our full condemnation of Palestine. After all, God chose that worthless piece of desert to be the promised land and, by all that's divine, the Jews should have it. You should also know that Hagee believes the resettlement of Soviet Jewry is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

I'm waiting to see if he's going to try to prove that the American Indians are the lost tribe of Israel or maybe they are just a bunch or damned savages who are going to burn in Christian Hell. By the way, my attitude toward any of these pompous morons on their Hell is since they created the concept of Hell, they should burn in it as well. How dare they besmirch other religions' peaceful ways by casting stones from their ever so fragile house of glass? History is rife with the human atrocities the Christian church has perpetuated through the two millennia in the name of their fire and brimstone god. Pastor Hagee is doing his level best to keep on with this level of hate mongering as in 2003 as he violated the ethics of Toronto station, CTS, with a tone that suggested Muslims can NOT be loyal Americans. Not that I have any great love for the Quran but, in this day and age, it's hard enough to be a Muslim in America after 9-11 without fat boy making your life harder.

Let us remember, that Islam, in itself, is really not a violent religion. It is the Islamic Fundamentalists (very much like the Christian Fundamentalists) that have done evil in its name. But don't let me sway you on this, read the Quran yourself and decide. You can be a very peaceful Muslim and be an American as well.

There is one definite thing I know about John Hagee Ministries, the budget he has for image designers must be enormous. Before he gets ready to promote one of his many publications (which he always deems required reading) he gets an art department to illustrate a GIGANTIC backdrop illustrating his 6 to 9 steps (keys, rings, etc...) on spiritual fulfillment, monetary success, or signs that the apocalypse is coming. Jack the Hutt likes to make most of his points in his sermon with the ever so classic Bible slap (i.e. - Bible thump) as well as a Sam Kinison-like scream for illustration.

He preaches along the Christian company line that those who are not prepared will be damned and that the theory of evolution should not be taught in school. He also goes into the religious persecution of Christians today with their not being allowed to evangelize in schools. He would lead you to believe that young Christians are being persecuted for praying in schools. This is not the case. They are being the annoying equivalent of the Hare Krishna's you see in airports.

And who needs that?

I have to ask because when I was in Catholic college and went on retreats, this situation never really came up. Is it really necessary to pray out loud? Won't God hear you wherever you are and if you make a silent prayer won't it get to him just the same? I'd like to think so. I believe it even moreso since I started reading Joseph Campbell.

Joseph Campbell wrote a classic book called Hero With A Thousand Faces as well as The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers). The principle that Joseph Campbell stresses is that the divine is IN YOU. You don't have to be in a church or any other "sacred place" - although I do believe that Stonehenge and New Grange are two really powerful spots on this earth - to communicate with the divine. And you certainly don't have to make a show of it.

It is the power of myths and stories that are illustrating powerful psychological archetypes which give us ways to live in accordance with this world. The moment you take documents such as the Bible and translate them as history, they lose their power. There is more value in the Bible as a work of fiction than it is as historical fact. The Bible is a collection of stories written for a simple people to illustrate how to be and how to live.

The Bible was never originally meant to be taken literally. When you start down that path, you start your own course toward lunacy.

And speaking of which, Jack the Hutt and Dr. Kennedy are not alone in their battle for the Bible to merge Church and State. After all, with law groups that call themselves the ACLJ, also known as, The American Center for Law & Justice (Don't be fooled by the name, they are some unholy Bizarro version of the ACLU - The American Civil Liberties Union), they are in well dressed company. Ironically enough, what the ACLJ forgets in its contradictory name is that justice by definition is justice for everyone - not just the Christians. That means Pagans have the same rights as Christians.

Today, shortly after I was incredibly pissed off at Perry Stone Jr., of Perry Stone Ministries. I saw their show. Their issue was one about a situation that happened in 1991 regarding a bunch of high schoolers that were prevented from making a prayer circle around a flag pole. The superintendent of the school thought that this situation could become something violent and called the police to have the students disperse. Not for nothing, but I think I, if I were in the same position, being responsible for several hundred minors during the day, would not want some Bible thumping religious freaks (who may or may not be very much like the Westboro Baptist Church and could harm innocent bystanders) would do the exact same thing.

Well, this being Texas, one of the notches in the Bible belt, they decided to call someone from the ACLJ to help act against the school. Please bear this in mind, this was a PUBLIC school which gets its money from secular tax payer dollars. After being harassed by this attorney, the school board after a loud deliberation, issued an apology.

Given that in mind, I'd love to try an experiment.

I'd love to have a young group of girls, coven, if you will, do a sacred circle around their flag pole. And while they are doing that, I'd make certain they'd have a temporary pentagram drawn up in the lawn with some white candles to help summon the goddess, Hekate. Let's see what the Christians would think of that.

I could easily argue that they are praying. They are communing with the mother goddess, as is done with all religions except Christianity. Are they to be stopped? How 'bout I have them spread flyers about the beauty of Paganism? How about I have them stand around open doors at the school and see if they can convince young Christians to turn away from their faith and come with them to enjoy the spirituality of the earth? If they are to be stopped, will they get the same type of apology or will the ACLJ say that because it was NOT Christianity, they will be arrested for disorderly conduct?

It would go over like a lead zepplin.

I have a solution, however. Let's let them have their way. Sure! It'll be great! Let's let the Christians do what they will with public tax dollars. Let them get what they want from Congress. Let them pass their laws for abortion and stem cell research. Let them act like the Westboro Baptist Church.

Then ya know what you should do?

TAX EM!!! Tax them, appropriately enough, to Kingdom Come! Tax them so they can't even think of building another church or another communion wafer. Tax them so they will never waste another piece of land that will serve no purpose other than to occupy a building. Tax them so hard that they will REALLY BE BEGGING for money! Tax them so they know poverty. Tax them to their myrrh and incense.

And you know what you do after that?

SUE EM!!! Sue them for discrimination against homosexuality!!! Sue them for equal opportunities against women!! Sue them for having doctrines that threaten the well beings of witches and Pagans (Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Exodus 22:18)!!! Sue them for adult endangerment after a rape!!! Sue them for every altar boy who was ever raped by a priest!!! Sue them for a billion dollars a shot!!! Sue them for every discriminatory law there is that the church goes for in their doctrine. Sue them for the right to privacy!!! Get every dime out of the Christian Church!!! Get the Catholic Pope's underwear while you're at it. Get them for every condom they tell you you can't use. Sue them for the kids you can no longer afford. Sue them as you would sue a doctor or a lawyer or anyone else who has screwed with your life.

That would solve the Social Security problem, the poverty problem, as well as the nastiness of there not being enough land to own. We'd get it all back. We'd get back our dignity and be able to punish any minister who gave us bad advice. We'd be able to have the freedom of religion the way we want because people wouldn't want to advertise they were stupid enough to join up with an organization that was getting the public scrutiny of being sued every single day. We could teach evolution in school and be able to sue the first minister that told us we were wrong!!! We'd be able to worship our own way in our own homes because the moment the church either came into our bedroom or told us what to do with our kids, out would come their wallets. And they'd have no choice but to let us, because as the joke says, "Hell has all of the lawyers."

We'd get them to pay for their sins. Every dollar and every envelope full.