Year: 2014
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President John Adams, About Blasphemy Laws
American theocrats are fond of talking about how the Founding Fathers intended for the United States to be a Christian nation. A look at the actual historical record reveals exactly the opposite. Most of the founding politicians of the USA were deeply opposed to laws prohibiting blasphemy. Among them was John Adams. He wrote, in…
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All Great Truths Begin As Blasphemies
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw defined education as “A succession of eye-openers each involving the repudiation of some previously held belief.” From his perspective, for an individual to learn, it isn’t enough to merely stack new knowledge on top of old knowledge, because new information can destroy old ideas that had been constructed with incomplete…
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Ben Carson’s Christian Heritage Of America: Death For Free Speech
The first significant Republican presidential campaign of the 2016 season has emerged under the banner of former doctor and political commentator Ben Carson. Carson has gained attention for himself by advocating a stronger Christian dominion over the U.S. federal government. Speaking recently to televangelist Pat Robertson, Carson said, “returning to our Judeo-Christian values can make…
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The Blasphemy Of Anthony Bimba
One January 26, 1926, Anthony Bimba gave a speech in Brockton, Massachusetts. Afterwards, he was placed under arrest as a criminal. Why? Bimba was accused of the crime of blasphemy. An American anti-blasphemy law made it a crime to contradict Christian beliefs, and Bimba was accused of telling a crowd during his speech that, “People…
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Why Krishna And Arjuna Drink A Coke Here
The image you see below was created for a local mythological discussion group for the purpose of stimulating a conversation about perceptions of a boundary that separates sacred icons and mundane images. It wasn’t, as many have supposed, an advertisement developed by Coca-Cola. It wasn’t designed as an attack against Hinduism, or any religion. It…
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Nothing is Sacred
I know. You believe that you can tell what’s sacred no what’s not, and you’re willing to stand by what’s sacred, to protect it from infidels. Congratulations. Most people don’t agree with you. Even most people of your own religion think that some of the things you hold as sacred are actually mundane, or even…